PION 


v 


}BERT  C 


BOOK  STORK 
140  PACIFIC  AVENV* 
LONG  BEACH. 


BOOKS   BY 

bert  Crafctefc." 

(MARY   N.   MURFREE.) 


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HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY, 

BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK. 


"  I  CAN 'T  HIDE  IT !   I  BURNT  THE  COPY 


THE  CHAMPION 


BY 


CHARLES  EGBERT  CRADDOCK 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 
ftitoerpibe  prrss,  Cambribijc 
1902 


COPYRIGHT,    1902,    BY  MARY  N.  MURFREE 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


Published  September,  igoz. 


THE  CHAMPION 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  devil  was  looking  out  of  the  window. 
Yet  the  traffic  in  the  streets  was  unchecked. 
The  cable-cars  whizzed  past  with  a  clanging 
clamor.  Great  rumbling  vans  laden  with 
freight  alternated  with  carriages  rolling  noise- 
lessly on  rubber-tired  wheels.  The  sidewalks 
were  crowded  with  pedestrians.  Men  and 
boys,  ladies  and  little  children,  boldly  came 
and  went  over  the  neighboring  crossing,  al- 
though they  could  plainly  see  the  devil's  head 
poking  out  of  a  high  window  in  the  newspaper 
building  and  hear  the  shrill  tones  of  the  devil's 
voice  as  he  discoursed  to  his  friend  within. 

For  in  fact  this  was  not  the  old  Enemy 
of  Mankind,  but  a  small  imp  —  commonly 
known  as  a  printer's  devil  —  who  by  virtue  of 


B9Q14B7 


2  THE  CHAMPION 

a  beguiling  chirp  of  "  Copy  !  "  served  as  a 
means  of  communication  between  the  foreman 
of  the  composing-room  and  the  editorial  staff. 

"  That 's  wher'  they  set  her  up  !  "  he  said, 
pointing  to  the  composing-room  in  an  explan- 
atory way,  and  with  a  paw  copiously  smeared 
with  ink. 

There  were  streaks  of  this  commodity  on  his 
face  also,  although  his  functions  had  no  con- 
cern with  it.  Still  the  devil  is  not  the  only 
fiend  who  dabbles  in  printer's  ink  without  a 
call. 

His  friend,  Peter  Bateman,  a  heavy,  thick- 
set boy,  with  a  broad,  sullen,  flushed  face  and 
a  lowering  eye,  cast  a  glance  at  the  cases  visi- 
ble through  the  open  door  from  the  hall. 

"  Wher'  do  the  boss  do  the  writin'  at  ?  "  he 
asked,  in  a  hoarse,  wheezy  voice. 

The  devil  tossed  his  red  head.  "  Boss  don't 
hev  ter  write  none  !  "  he  retorted  arrogantly. 
"  Foreman  is  what  we  call  him  —  bes'  printer 
in  these  'ere  Newnited  States !  " 

"  But  wher'  do  the  feller  stay  what  hes  ter 
write  ?  "  persisted  Pete. 


THE  CHAMPION  3 

"  Oh,  —  him  ?  "  responded  the  devil,  dis- 
paragingly. "  They  puts  him  in  a  little  '  rink- 
turn/  they  call  it,  all  by  himself.  He  ain't 
much  force !  He  can't  write  a  word  if  folks 
git  ter  gabblin'  ter  him.  Why,  sometimes 
when  I  jes'  say  '  Copee '  ter  him,  he  looks 
like  he  will  go  out  of  his  mind  !  They  hev 
ter  hire  a  whole  passel  o'  other  fellers  ter  help 
him  jes'  do  the  writirf.  They  hev  got  a 
double  row  of  desks  for  a  lot  of  'em  in  that 
long  room.  They  are  all  orful  slow.  Some- 
times I  be  kep'  yappin'  '  Copee '  at  'em  all 
day  so  I  can't  stay  abed  o'  night  —  ef  I  eats 
toler'ble  hearty,  —  but  jes'  keeps  jumpin'  out 
an'  yappin' '  Copee '  in  my  sleep,  till  my  mother 
gits  afeard  I  '11  fetch  the  perlice  with  my  noise." 

He  grinned  at  the  recollection  of  these 
somnolent  vagaries.  Then  in  his  self-assumed 
duties  as  cicerone  to  his  friend,  showing  the 
plant  of  the  daily  newspaper,  as  the  rooms 
were  nearly  deserted  at  this  hour,  he  duly 
exhibited  the  type-setting  machine,  a  com- 
paratively new  acquisition  in  this  southwest- 
ern city,  and  not  altogether  popular  in  the 


4  THE  CHAMPION 

composing-room,  where  much  of  the  work 
was  still  done  by  hand. 

"  It  is  a  go,  of  course/'  said  the  devil  dis- 
criminatingly, reflecting  the  sentiment  of  his 
elders,  "  but  I  tell  you  now,  this  machine  ain't 
in  it  for  speed  an'  percision  with  a  reg'lar 
old-fashioned,  gilt-edged,  greased-lightning 
compositor  like  Bob  Platt,  —  that 's  our  fore- 
man, ye  know  !  That 's  the  kind  o'  printer 
I  'm  goin'  ter  be,  — ye  kin  bet  yer  hat !  " 

He  hesitated  and  seemed  a  trifle  out  of 
countenance  for  a  moment  after  he  had  said 
this.  For  when  he  had  first  been  employed 
in  the  office,  a  raw  little  country  lad,  his  ad- 
miration of  the  printer's  craft  had  been  so 
great,  his  ambition  so  exuberant,  his  ingenu- 
ous emulation  so  open  that  he  had  immediately 
announced  his  determination  to  be  some  day 
a  champion  compositor  and  stand  preeminent 
at  the  case !  The  galley-boys  and  junior 
printers,  of  the  variety  called  "  cubs,"  would 
have  been  more  or  less  than  human  had  they 
failed  to  improve  so  promising  an  opportunity 
for  fun.  They  guyed  him  unmercifully,  and 


THE  CHAMPION 


they  called  him  "  the  Champion  "  so  relent- 
lessly that  there  was  no  one  employed  about 
the  paper,  from  the  engine-room  to  the  "  rink- 
tum "  (sanctum)  of  the  editor-in-chief,  who 
was  unaware  of  the  application  of  this  proud 
designation.  The  little  devil,  Edward  Mac- 
donald  by  name,  winced  and  wilted  under 
the  ridicule  of  his  fellows,  but  it  had  no 
deterrent  effect  upon  his  determination  and 
the  great  object  of  his  ambition.  He  ac- 
counted it  the  chief  feat  of  manual  dexterity ; 
and  he  thought  the  greatest  sight  the  city 
could  afford  was  the  spectacle  of  Bob  Platt 
swiftly  distributing  type,  while  the  bits  of 
metal  rattled  like  a  furious  hail  into  their 
appropriate  boxes.  Even  now  he  was  volubly 
pitying  Peter  Bateman  that  he  had  never 
beheld  this  phenomenon,  and  possibly  was 
fated  never  to  witness  it. 

Then,  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  predestined 
compositor,  he  declared,  "  1 7d  ruther  stand  at 
the  case  when  I  gits  my  growth  than  be  the 
bigges'  editor  goin'  !  " 

They  presently  sauntered   out  again  into 


6  THE  CHAMPION 

the  dusky  hall,  dimly  illumined  by  a  flicker- 
ing gas-jet  here  and  there,  for  twilight  was  at 
hand,  and  leaned  once  more  against  the  sill  of 
the  window. 

"  Them  reporters  hev  the  bes'  time  o'  any 
o'  the  staff.  Them  men  skeet  around  town 
till  they  are  wore  ter  nothin'  but  eyes  and 
lead  pencil !  They  see  everything !  —  always 
on  the  go  !  An'  hev  compliments  o'  the  sea- 
son all  hours,  —  an*  free  passes  ter  the  theay- 
tre,  lemme  tell  ye !  " 

An  impressive  silence  ensued.  Then  a 
shadow  crossed  Ned's  ink-streaked  face,  which 
was  the  paler  because  of  the  fading  of  his 
freckles,  natural  concomitant  of  his  red  hair, 
by  reason  of  his  indoor  work. 

"  Now  look  at  me  ! "  the  devil  resumed  in 
a  tone  calculated  to  invite  contrast.  "  I  hev 
ter  stay  cooped  up  'ere  half  the  day  an'  nigh 
all  night,  an'  I  work  an'  work,  an'  I  pays  all 
my  wages  over  ter  my  mother ;  I  never  keep 
a  cent  for  myself.  I  ain't  grudgin'  her  nor 
my  little  sister  neither  —  but  ain't  I  goin'  ter 
see  inside  a  theaytre  never  no  more  ?  " 


THE  CHAMPION  7 

He  thrust  his  hands  into  his  empty  pockets. 
His  heart  was  swelling.  He  breathed  hard. 
Suddenly  Pete,  his  thin  lips  askew,  his  eyes 
narrowed  to  the  merest  slits,  till  it  seemed  sur- 
prising that  so  much  slyness  could  look  out 
thence,  nodded  his  head  again  and  again,  till 
the  motion  seemed  automatic,  as  if  he  were  a 
queer  bit  of  bobbing  machinery. 

"  What  d'  ye  mean  by  that  ?  "  cried  Ed- 
ward, observing  him  dubiously,  mystified  and 
in  some  sort  offended  by  this  enigmatic  dumb 
show. 

Pete's  bullet  head  became  stationary ;  pride 
and  munificence  were  alike  expressed  in  his 
features. 

"  /  kin  give  ye  a  free  pass  ter  the  theaytre," 
he  declared  with  magnified  importance.  "  I  'm 
the  boss,  —  an'  don't  ye  forget  it." 

"  Wha'  —  wha'  —  wha'  say  ? •"  stuttered 
Ned  excitedly. 

Pete  glanced  apprehensively  over  his  shoul- 
der in  the  closing  twilight.  "  D'  ye  know 
Gorham's  theaytre  ?  "  he  asked. 

Edward  nodded. 


8  THE  CHAMPION 

"  It 's  got  a  window,  —  a  back  window,  — 
what  ain't  more  'n  eight  feet  off  'n  the  ground." 
Pete  made  this  announcement  in  a  mysterious 
gurgling  whisper. 

Edward  stared. 

"  Ef  ye  '11  boost  me,  I  '11  lean  out  an'  reach 
down  an'  give  ye  a  lift,"  Pete  explained. 

The  devil  stood  aghast  at  this  bold  scheme. 

"  S'pose  the  play-actors  war  ter  nab  us  ?  " 
he  suggested  in  an  appalled  staccato. 

Pete  snapped  scornful  fingers  in  the  air. 
"Then  we'll  be  put  out  o'  the  door,  an' 
that 's  the  way  the  tony  folks  goes  out  what 
ain't  obleeged  to  come  in  at  the  window." 

Ned  laughed  in  sympathy.  The  novelty 
of  the  adventure  tempted  him.  Opportunity 
favored  him.  There  was  always  a  lull  in  the 
pressure  of  his  duties  at  this  hour.  Much  of 
the  "  copee  "  was  already  in  type,  and  until 
the  later  dispatches  should  begin  to  come  in 
the  work  of  the  office  would  not  show  that 
increasing  momentum  which  was  wont  to  cul- 
minate in  the  final  rush  of  going  to  press.  He 
knew  that  he  could  be  back  before  he  would 


THE  CHAMPION  9 

be  needed,  and  still  see  a  good  bit  of  the  play. 
This  certainty  reenforced  the  longing  for  the 
lights  and  the  crowd  and  the  splendor  of 
the  scenic  display.  But  something  —  an  ill- 
defined  something  —  held  him  back.  He  re- 
membered afterward  that,  though  so  subtle  a 
sensation,  it  was  for  the  moment  as  strong  as 
if  a  material  hand  had  clutched  him.  It  was 
not  his  habit  of  honesty,  for  just  then  he  did 
not  realize  that  this  was  stealing,  —  that  in 
surreptitiously  seeing  the  play  he  absolutely 
robbed  the  management  of  the  price  of  his 
appropriate  seat  among  the  gallery  gods.  Per- 
haps it  was  the  instinct  of  filial  obedience. 

"  My  mother  can't  abide  for  me  ter  go  to 
the  theaytre  nohow,"  he  reflected.  "  But 
some  folks  say  that  it  is  eddication  for  a  boy. 
But  my  mother,  she  say  from  all  she  hears  it 's 
apter  ter  eddicate  him  ter  be  a  hoodlum  than 
anything  else,  —  an'  if  a  boy  wants  real  eddi- 
cation the  Public  School  is  yawnin'  fur  him." 

He  remembered  this  as  he  ran  down  the 
stairs  beside  Pete.  He  hesitated  even  at  the 
street  door. 


10  THE  CHAMPION 

"  Come  on  —  we  're  in  for  a  orf ul  bully 
time !  "  wheezed  Pete.  "  Few  folks  kin  go 
ter  the  theaytre  this-a-way  !  " 

Ned  put  his  doubts  behind  him  and  started 
up  the  avenue.  "  Shucks !  "  he  argued  within 
himself,  "  a  boy  to  suit  my  mother's  notions 
could  n't  ever  have  no  fun  an'  see  the  sights 
and  know  what 's  goin'  on.  An'  she  hain't 
never  had  no  schoolin'  sca'cely,  and  has  lived 
way  back  in  the  country  mighty  nigh  all  her 
life.  She  never  was  in  a  theaytre  in  her  born 


Night  had  come  at  last,  but  its  black  mantle, 
which  elsewhere  enveloped  the  world,  was  here 
torn  into  dun-colored  fringes  and  spangled 
about  with  gas-jets  and  electric  lights.  Up 
and  down  the  fagades  of  distant  buildings 
the  illuminated  windows  shone  like  swarms  of 
golden  bees.  The  incandescent  street  lamps 
stretched  in  glittering  files  on  either  side  of 
the  ascending  avenue,  converging  and  con- 
verging till  they  seemed  to  meet  in  a  rising 
planet  in  the  limits  of  the  far  east.  Above 
their  brilliant  ranks  now  and  again  swayed  a 


THE  CHAMPION  11 

central  arc-light,  displaying  a  splendid  focus 
of  intense  white  lustre,  and  flinging  the  lumi- 
nous rays  of  its  encircling  aureola  far  into  the 
surrounding  darkness.  Below  were  dimmer 
lights  of  yellow  or  blue  which  marked  the  pro- 
gress of  the  cable  cars.  They  crashed  and 
banged  as  they  passed.  The  imperative  strokes 
of  the  gong  souixded  now  and  again  to  clear 
the  way.  The  shriller  bells  jangled  sharply. 
The  passengers  stood  in  the  aisles  packed  like 
sardines,  or  clung  to  the  platforms  of  the 
already  crowded  open  grip-car. 

"  They  are  all  goin'  ter  Gorham's,"  crowed 
Pete,  rejoicing  in  the  prospective  crowds  as  if 
he  had  a  share  in  the  receipts. 

Ned  began  to  think  it  a  fine  thing  too. 
He  had  all  the  afflatus  of  public  amusement. 
To  be  one  of  a  great  joyful  crowd  seemed  to 
him  to  multiply  the  pleasure  by  the  multitude. 
His  step  grew  light.  He  heard  the  light  steps 
behind  him.  Everybody  was  going,  and  he 
was  going  too. 

The  theatre  was  well  filled  before  they  came 
in  sight  of  the  massive  building.  In  front  of 


12  THE  CHAMPION 

it  on  the  sidewalk  was  a  gilded  standard  sup- 
porting a  pyramid  of  gas-jets.  A  circle  of 
boys  sat  beneath  this  with  fans  to  sell,  for  the 
May  weather  was  growing  warm  and  the 
palm-leaf  industry  was  looking  up.  The  boys 
had  besieged  the  crowd  as  it  was  entering  the 
theatre,  and  now  they  waited  to  waylay  the 
belated  pleasure-seeker.  At  a  distance  the 
pyramid,  with  the  circle  of  fluttering  palm 
leaves  beneath  it,  looked  like  some  strange, 
gigantic,  many-petaled  flower. 

Pete  stopped  short  at  the  sight. 

"  Bust  them  fellers  !  We  must  n't  let  on 
ter  them." 

"  Naw,  sir  !  Naw,  sir  !  "  exclaimed  Ned, 
with  emphasis. 

Both  turned  at  once  from  the  broad  avenue, 
scuttled  hastily  down  a  side  street,  then 
plunged  into  the  mysterious  darkness  of  an 
alley.  In  a  moment  they  were  under  the 
back  window  of  the  theatre. 

A  mellow  dim  light  from  within  showed 
that  the  sash  was  lifted.  The  tremulous  wail 
of  a  violin  drifted  out  to  them.  The  orches- 


THE  CHAMPION  13 

tra  had  begun  to  tune  their  instruments. 
There  was  no  time  to  lose.  Ned  turned  hur- 
riedly to  Pete. 

"  Up  with  ye,  —  I  '11  boost." 

To  his  surprise  Pete  drew  back.  His  face 
was  concealed  by  the  darkness,  and  his  hoarse 
voice  was  sunk  to  a  husky  mutter. 

"  Hey  ?  wha'  say  ?  "  demanded  Ned. 

Pete  grew  more  intelligible. 

"  I  hain't  never  been  in  there,"  he  remon- 
strated, as  if  the  adventure  were  altogether 
Ned's  scheme.  "  I  dunno  wher'  I  might  come 
out  at.  I  might  jump  right  inter  a  —  a  — 
hornet's  nest." 

"  I  say ! "  exclaimed  Ned  sarcastically. 
"  But  if  you  are  weakening  I  '11  go  fust." 

"  Well,  —  I  wuz  thinkin'  as  much,"  mut- 
tered Pete. 

Ned  needed  no  boosting.  The  foundation 
of  the  building  was  of  rough  stone,  and  offered 
some  hold  for  his  fingers  and  feet.  He  was  a 
light  weight,  even  for  his  tender  years,  and  as 
wiry  and  active  as  a  cat.  Up  and  up  he  went 
till  his  grimy,  ink-streaked  paws  clutched  the 


14  THE  CHAMPION 

outer  moulding  of  the  window  frame,  —  a 
scientific  jerk,  and  his  hands  and  knees  were 
on  the  sill. 

He  paused  to  listen.  He  heard  only  the 
orchestra.  The  music  was  now  in  full  swing. 
He  peeped  cautiously  within,  then  drew  back 
his  head  with  a  suddenness  which  almost  pre- 
cipitated him  from  the  window. 

"  Is  ennybody  there  ?  "  gasped  Pete,  ready 
to  run. 

"  Dunno  !  "  panted  Ned. 

He  peeped  cautiously  within  once  more. 
He  was  becoming  accustomed  to  the  dim  light, 
and  this  tune  he  saw  distinctly  close  to  the 
window  a  great  gilded  dragon,  that  had  added 
to  its  ancient  glories  the  triumph  of  frighten- 
ing the  devil  almost  out  of  his  wits. 

At  this  second  glance  Ned  understood  the 
nature  of  the  object.  He  eyed  it  with  less 
fear  and  increasing  curiosity.  He  had  seen 
nothing  like  this  monster  at  the  Zoo,  which 
furnished  all  his  knowledge  of  Natural  His- 
tory, and  with  antique  myths  his  acquaintance 
was  slight. 


THE  CHAMPION  15 

"  Well,  —  I  should  smile  !  "  he  ejaculated, 
gravely  staring. 

The  dragon  was  perennially  smiling,  with  a 
wide  pasteboard  mouth,  and  some  big  paste- 
board teeth. 

Ned  was  in  a  strange  world,  —  a  great 
world  of  shams,  where  the  trees  were  clots 
of  green  paint  on  immense  canvas  sheets 
stretched  on  tottering  wooden  frames,  where 
hospitable  castles  had  no  substance,  where 
mountain  crags  were  trestles  of  various 
heights  supporting  spring  mattresses,  covered 
with  dusty  imitations  of  mosses  and  vines,  on 
which  desperate  leaps  might  safely  be  made. 
There  were  ropes  and  pulleys,  and  windlasses, 
and  drop-scenes,  and  swaying  borders  in  the 
"flies"  overhead  in  place  of  a  firmament. 
There  were  squares  here  and  there  on  the 
floor,  which  he  knew  were  trapdoors,  whence 
he  had  seen  gnomes  and  elves  spring  up, 
when  once  there  had  been  given  a  Christmas 
performance  with  free  admission  to  working 
children. 

Deep   shadows   gloomed    on   every   hand, 


16  THE  CHAMPION 

seeming  the  deeper  because  of  the  flood  of 
light  which  irradiated  the  unseen  region  be- 
yond the  great  "flats."  No  human  creature  was 
visible.  Only  one  sound  could  now  be  heard, 
—  a  clear,  resonant,  tutored  voice,  reciting 
stately  lines.  Somehow  the  tones  awed  him. 

He  became  aware  in  another  moment  that 
Pete  was  vaguely  scuffling  about  the  founda- 
tion of  the  building ;  he  leaned  far  out  of  the 
window  and  stretched  down  both  his  arms. 

"  Hurry  up,  Pete,"  he  adjured  his  friend ; 
"  they  're  just  a-goin'  it  on  the  stage  !  " 

Looking  down,  he  thought  the  height  of 
the  window  was  considerably  more  than  eight 
feet  from  the  ground.  Pete  had  a  grievously 
foreshortened  aspect.  In  fact  he  seemed 
little  more  than  an  old  cap,  bobbing  about 
vivaciously  on  the  paving-stones.  These  gyra- 
tions were  in  vain.  Except  during  a  spas- 
modic endeavor  to  walk  up  the  wall  like  a  fly 
which  Pete  called  "  climbing,"  he  did  not 
leave  the  earth  at  ah1,  for  he  had  not  the  fly's 
peculiar  and  special  facilities.  He  was  too 
clumsy  to  climb,  too  inactive,  much  too  fat. 


THE  CHAMPION  17 

When  he  slid  down  for  the  last  time,  pant- 
ing, bruised,  exhausted,  and  almost  ready  to 
cry,  Ned  sought  to  encourage  him  to  further 
exertions. 

"  Naw,  sir  !  "  replied  Pete  angrily.  "  I 
ain't  goin'  ter  try  it  nare  'nother  time,  — 
break  my  neck  along  of  your  fool  tricks  the 
fust  thing  I  know.  Come  down  out  of  that 
window !  I  ain't  a-goin'  ter  let  ye  see  the 
play-actors  if  I  can't.  Come  down !  " 

The  printer's  devil  stared  as  he  sat  in  the 
window. 

"  Ye  mus'  be  sick  ! "  he  exclaimed  elo- 
quently. "  I  got  in  'ere  myself,  an'  'ere  I  'm 
goin'  ter  stay." 

"  Naw,  ye  ain't !  —  naw,  ye  ain't !  "  The 
old  soft  cap  nodded  with  malicious  signifi- 
cance. 

"  Who  is  able  ter  take  me  out  ?  —  ye  ain't, 
fur  sure !  "  the  devil  retorted  from  his  lofty 
perch. 

The  shapeless  old  cap  emitted  but  one 
word.  "  Perlice." 

Ned  was  silent  for  a  moment.     The  old  cap 


18  THE  CHAMPION 

bobbed  about  very  merrily,  for  Pete  executed 
a  double  shuffle  of  derision  and  triumph. 

"  Perlice  hes  got  nothin'  ter  do  with  me/' 
Ned  declared  stoutly.  "  The  theaytre  folks 
would  jes'  put  me  outer  doors,  —  an'  they  hes 
got  ter  ketch  me  fust."  He  wagged  his  red 
head  as  much  as  to  say  that  this  should  be  a 
tough  job. 

Pete  still  danced. 

"  Perlice  will  take  ye  ter  the  lock-up  for 
beatin'  fifty  cents  outer  the  theaytre  folks." 

The  devil  snapped  his  fingers. 

The  dance  paused  for  the  more  serious 
business  of  argument.  "  An'  for  breakin'  in 
the  back  window,  an'  mebbe  stealin'  di'monds 
an'  fine  fixin's  outer  the  star's  dressin'-room. 
I  'm  goin'  ter  the  station  right  now  with  that 
tale,"  added  the  shameless  Pete.  "  Come 
down  out  o'  that  there  window  or  go  ter  jail, 
—  you  bet!" 

He  looked  up  anxiously.  How  he  grudged 
the  pleasure  that  he  could  not  share  ! 

Ned,  although  startled,  surprised,  and  an- 
gry, perceived  the  net  that  circumstance  was 


THE  CHAMPION  19 

beginning  to  weave  about  him.  JBut  he  would 
not  listen  to  the  counsels  of  prudence,  —  for 
when  had  he  ever  taken  a  dare  ?  Besides,  he 
hardly  believed  that  Pete  meant  to  make  good 
his  threat. 

"  They  '11  need  something  more  than  yer 
word,  ye  lyin'  hoodlum !  "  he  said,  shaking 
his  fist  at  the  shabby  old  cap  below.  "  Ef 
the  perlice  kin  find  a  cobweb  o'  proof  that  I 
stole  actor's  di'monds  I  '11  go  ter  jail  without 
wunking  a  wink." 

With  this  boast  he  sprang  down  and  disap- 
peared amidst  the  glooms  within. 

The  clouds  were  parting  before  the  rising 
moon.  Its  golden  rays  fell  upon  the  empty 
window.  The  dragon  looked  out  and  grinned. 
Pete  stood  in  baffled  anger  and  astonishment 
listening  to  his  friend's  stealthy  steps  till  the 
sound  died  away  in  the  distance.  Then  set- 
tling his  cap  more  firmly  on  his  head,  he  ran 
swiftly  down  the  alley,  up  the  side  street,  and 
out  upon  the  broad  avenue. 


CHAPTER  II 

MEANTIME  Ned  was  timorously  skulking 
about  in  that  strange,  unkempt,  haggard 
world  known  as  "  behind  the  scenes."  He 
realized  that  it  was  to  him  a  foreign  world, 
and  he  bore  himself  with  the  alert  suspicious- 
ness  of  an  alien.  He  kept  an  anxious  look- 
out for  the  red  jackets  of  the  scene-shifters, 
and  whenever  he  saw  them  bespangling  the 
gray  shadows  of  those  dreary  canvas  vistas  he 
dodged  dexterously  behind  other  "  flats  "  and 
into  deeper  glooms. 

"  I  Ve  got  to  keep  my  eye  peeled  or  some 
o'  them  fellers  will  ketch  me  sure  ! "  he  said 
to  himself. 

Once  down  one  of  these  aisles  a  sudden  veri- 
table scene  showed  at  the  end  of  the  perspec- 
tive, through  a  wide  door  opening  upon  a 
room  tinted  in  green,  the  color  being  very 
keen  amidst  the  dun  shadows  without  and  the 


THE  CHAMPION  21 

brilliant  artificial  illumination  within.  There, 
seemingly  lounging  or  waiting,  were  groups 
of  men  and  women,  richly  and  quaintly  at- 
tired, but  with  a  prosaic  every-day  pose  and 
gesture  and  expression  of  countenance,  the 
effect  curiously  at  variance  with  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  antique  garb  they  wore.  This 
incongruity  was  not  perceptible  in  a  figure 
that  he  descried  suddenly  approaching,  clad 
in  a  gown  of  soft  shimmering  white  silk  as  in 
everlasting  youth  and  beauty,  —  so  radiant, 
so  poetic,  so  unreal  an  apparition  to  the  boy 
that  Ned,  stopping  to  stare,  lost  all  sense  of 
his  identity.  She,  who  was  to  be  Ophelia, 
catching  a  glimpse  of  his  pale,  wistful,  aston- 
ished little  face  in  the  glooms,  with  its  big 
dark  eyes  and  curling  red  hair,  as  he  stood 
as  if  rooted  to  the  spot,  cast  a  half-amused 
smile  on  him  as  she  passed.  Her  maid  was 
following  at  a  distance  with  a  shawl,  and  Ned, 
suddenly  realizing  his  peril,  hastily  darted  be- 
hind one  of  the  tombstones  which  even  now 
were  placed  in  readiness,  awaiting  the  grave- 
yard scene,  and  then  once  more  dodged  from 
flat  to  flat  and  from  trestle  to  trestle. 


22  THE  CHAMPION 

He  hardly  knew  in  what  direction  he  was 
tending,  till  all  at  once  a  flood  of  light  broke 
upon  him  and  he  stood  in  the  wings.  The 
broad  spread  of  the  stage  lay  before  him,  — 
gorgeous  with  the  presence  of  royalty  and 
soldiery,  of  lords  and  ladies,  of  jesters  and 
pages,  —  the  "  counterfeit  presentment  "  of 
the  palaces  of  eld,  and  of  the  splendid  past. 
It  was  rounded  by  the  dazzling  crescent  of 
the  foot -lights  that  clasped  this  charmed 
sphere  as  the  new  moon  clasps  the  old.  There 
was  a  ceaseless  shimmer  above  them,  and 
through  it  he  could  see  heads,  heads,  heads. 
The  house  was  crowded  from  parquet  to 
gallery.  Now  and  then  the  audience  broke 
into  enthusiastic  applause. 

As  Ned  stood  staring  it  did  not  occur  to 
him  that  he  was  in  the  direct  way  of  any 
actor  going  on  or  coming  off  the  stage,  until 
a  sudden  step  sounded  close  at  hand  behind 
the  wing.  It  was  only  an  accident  that  he 
did  not  electrify  audience  and  players  by 
rushing  out  upon  the  stage,  for  the  powers 
behind  the  scenes  had  far  more  terrors  for 


THE  CHAMPION  23 

him  than  public  opinion.  As  he  shrank  back 
toward  the  wall,  looking  eagerly  about  him 
for  a  refuge,  he  stumbled  against  the  oddly 
fashioned  chair  in  which  Hamlet  had  sat  dur- 
ing the  second  scene  of  the  first  act,  and 
which  now  by  accident  or  design  had  been 
thrust  aside  here.  The  devil  sprang  upon 
the  rich  crimson  velvet  cushions,  and  the 
Prince  of  Denmark  was  none  the  wiser. 

No  one  else  was  the  wiser.  The  high  arms 
of  the  chair  shielded  Ned  from  observation  as 
the  step  drew  near  and  passed,  —  others  still 
came  and  went  in  quick  succession.  He  had 
a  fuh1  view  of  the  stage.  He  was  in  no  dan- 
ger of  discovery  unless  a  special  search  should 
be  made  for  him.  He  had  the  choicest  oppor- 
tunity for  enjoyment  —  but  somehow  the  zest 
was  gone.  His  conscience  had  roused  itself 
and  laid  hold  upon  him.  Instead  of  follow- 
ing the  incidents  of  the  play  enacted  before 
him  he  was  vainly  striving  to  justify  himself 
to  that  implacable  inward  monitor.  This  was 
not  stealing,  he  stoutly  asseverated.  It  was 
only  a  lark,  —  and  all  for  fun  !  But  con- 


24  THE  CHAMPION 

science  —  even  a  small  boy's  conscience  —  is 
the  most  potent  of  all  moral  forces,  and  he 
suffered  a  poignant  pang  for  every  mill  of 
the  half  dollar  which  was  the  price  of  his  ap- 
propriate seat  among  the  gallery  gods. 

When  at  last  he  resolutely  tore  his  mind 
from  this  subject  he  could  not  apply  it  to  the 
pleasure  of  the  moment.  He  began  to  won- 
der if  Pete  would  really  make  good  his  threat, 
—  if  Pete  would  dare  to  charge  him  with  steal- 
ing from  the  dressing-rooms,  and  burglary 
and  what  not. 

"  There  would  have  to  be  something  stole 
fust,  an'  then  they  would  have  ter  trace  it  ter 
me,"  he  said  to  reassure  himself,  for  he  was  a 
sharp  boy,  and  amply  conversant  with  this 
world's  ways. 

Despite  his  reasoning,  however,  he  glanced 
over  his  shoulder  ever  and  anon,  expecting  to 
see  a  big  man  in  a  blue  uniform  with  a  police 
officer's  badge  on  his  breast. 

When  a  tall  man  in  dark  garments  appeared 
suddenly  close  at  hand  he  thought  for  a  mo- 
ment that  his  worst  forebodings  were  realized. 


THE  CHAMPION  25 

At  a  second  glance  he  saw  that  this  man  was 

o 

clad  in  black,  not  blue,  and  wore  a  high  silk 
hat  set  far  back  on  his  light  brown  hair.  He 
had  a  light  brown  beard,  a  florid  face,  and 
eager,  excited  blue  eyes.  He  continually  twirled 
his  eye-glasses  in  his  hand  with  a  gesture  so 
nervous  that  it  made  the  devil  nervous  too, 
and  when  compelled  to  desist  from  this  occu- 
pation by  the  necessity  of  placing  the  glasses 
upon  the  bridge  of  his  sharp  hooked  nose,  he 
utilized  the  interval  by  thrusting  his  hands 
into  his  pockets,  where,  judging  by  the  sound, 
he  restlessly  rattled  his  silver  change  or  bunch 
of  keys.  An  alert,  impulsive  man,  eager,  un- 
reasonable, and  irritable,  Ned  thought  him, 
and  afterward  the  devil  had  cause  to  strengthen 
this  opinion.  The  boy  was  near  enough  to 
hear  his  words,  although  spoken  in  a  low  tone, 
for  he  stood  far  back  and  well  out  of  sight  of 
the  audience. 

"  Well  —  insurance  now  —  the  premium 
comes  pretty  heavy,"  the  manager  was  say- 
ing, for  this  was  Mr.  Gorham,  the  manager 
and  owner  of  the  theatre. 


26  THE  CHAMPION 

"  Has  to  be  kept  up,  though,  —  no  use  kick- 
ing/' replied  a  wiry,  extremely  thin,  pallid,  and 
wrinkled  elderly  gentleman  who  had  joined 
the  other.  Ned  guessed  that  this  was  an  inti- 
mate personal  friend  of  the  manager,  since 
their  talk  was  of  his  private  affairs. 

And  because  of  this  fact  it  seemed  very 
odd  to  the  boy  that  a  certain  subordinate 
player  awaiting  his  cue  in  the  wings  should 
evidently  be  eager  to  hear. 

"  Eavesdropper  !  "  thought  Ned,  indig- 
nantly. 

It  seemed  less  heinous  that  he  himself 
should  overhear  this  conversation,  since  it 
was  accidental  on  his  part,  and,  at  this  time 
at  least,  he  thought  it  meant  nothing  to  him. 

Ned  eyed  the  actor  narrowly,  and  did  not 
like  the  man's  looks.  His  attitude  was  very 
singular.  He  was  almost  behind  one  of  the 
wings,  and  quite  out  of  sight  of  the  two 
friends.  His  face  was  very  red,  even  beneath 
the  rouge.  He  looked  coarse  and  awkward 
in  his  gaudy  costume,  and  leaned  so  heavily 
against  the  great  frame  of  the  scene  that  it 


THE  CHAMPION  27 

tottered  with  his  weight.  He  had  a  piece  of 
ice  in  a  towel  which  he  continually  applied  to 
the  back  of  his  neck  and  the  top  of  his  head. 
He  did  this  with  the  dexterity  of  an  expert, 
but  almost  mechanically,  for  his  eyes  were 
fixed  first  on  one  speaker's  face,  then  on  the 
other's. 

"  Of  course  the  insurance  wants  to  be  kept 
up,"  said  the  manager,  frantically  jingling 
the  coin  in  his  pocket.  "  Though,"  he  added 
with  an  afterthought,  "  I  don't  see  why  — 
I  've  insured  this  building  and  the  properties 
for  fifteen  years,  and  never  had  a  loss  by 
fire."  He  stroked  his  beard  reflectively. 
"  Wish  I  had  now  all  the  premiums  I  've  paid 
in  my  time,"  he  said  almost  piteously. 

"  When  did  the  policy  in  the  Rising  Pho3- 
nix  expire  ?  "  demanded  his  friend. 

"  To-day  at  noon.  I  refused  to  renew. 
I  'm  done  with  that  agent,  at  all  events ! " 
His  eyes  flashed,  and  he  twirled  his  eye-glasses 
with  a  fierce  gesture.  "  Whatever  I  do,  I  '11 
have  no  more  dealings  with  him." 

Mr.  Gorham's  expression  changed  suddenly 


28  THE  CHAMPION 

to  one  of  bland  politeness  as  he  bowed  agree- 
ably to  a  lady,  who  had  been  very  dignified 
and  stiffly  splendid  on  the  stage  as  the  queen, 
and  withal  robustly  youthful,  but  coming  off 
she  looked  old  and  tired.  She  was  so  heavily 
whited  and  rouged  that  her  facial  expression 
was  wholly  lost,  and  her  eyes  seemed  to  be 
the  only  natural  feature  of  her  face,  and  to 
look  out  with  a  sort  of  forlorn  reality  above 
the  simpering  sham  of  her  wreck  of  a  counte- 
nance. 

The  elderly  skeleton-like  friend  of  the  man- 
ager shook  his  bones  together,  so  to  speak, 
and  then  stepped  forward  with  alacrity  and 
offered  his  hand  to  the  lady,  greeting  her  as 
an  old  acquaintance.  Somehow  Ned  resented 
his  assured  courtly  manner,  which  might  have 
graced  a  man  of  finer  appearance  and  fresher 
youth.  It  seemed  an  assumption  on  his  part. 
"Maybe  he  thinks  very  well  of  his  bones," 
Ned  speculated.  "Does  he  suppose  he  is 
pretty  ?  "  Ugly  though  he  was,  the  lady  did 
not  scorn  him,  but  kindly  told  him  about  a 
new  granddaughter  she  had,  and  showed  him 


THE  CHAMPION  29 

a  telegram.  She  smiled,  and  nodded  most  be- 
nignly in  receiving  his  polite  congratulations, 
and  then  sailed  on  toward  the  green-room. 

The  subordinate  actor  at  the  wing  suddenly 
dropped  the  towel  and  the  lump  of  ice.  He 
had  caught  his  cue,  and  with  a  stiff,  ungainly 
gait  he  strode  upon  the  stage.  The  star  had 
returned  also,  and  with  his  reappearance  the 
plaudits  broke  forth. 

"  There  he  is  again  !  "  exclaimed  the  mana- 
ger enthusiastically.  "  He  is  playing  in  fine 
form  to-night,  —  every  inch  the  Prince  of 
Denmark !  " 

Ned,  too,  was  looking  at  the  stage  from  his 
nook  in  the  great  man's  chair  behind  the 
wing.  The  by-play  behind  the  scenes  had 
absorbed  him  hitherto,  but  he  grew  intensely 
interested  when  the  star  spoke  to  the  actor 
who  had  lurked  and  listened  in  the  wings. 
Hamlet  seemed  to  be  instructing  him  how  to 
play  a  part,  and  in  honest  fact  the  subordinate 
had  shown  in  a  scene  in  the  previous  act  that 
he  stood  in  grievous  need  of  such  tuition. 

"  Speak  the  speech,  I  pray  you,  as  I  pro- 


30  THE  CHAMPION 

nounced  it  to  you,  trippingly  on  the  tongue ; 
but  if  you  mouth  it,  as  many  of  our  players 
do,  I  had  as  lief  the  town-crier  spoke  my 
lines.  Nor  do  not  saw  the  air  too  much  with 
your  hand,  thus ;  but  use  all  gently ;  for 
in  the  very  torrent,  tempest,  and,  as  I  may 
say,  whirlwind  of  your  passion,  you  must  ac- 
quire and  beget  a  temperance,  that  may  give 
it  smoothness.  0,  it  offends  me  to  the  soul,  to 
hear  a  robustious  periwig-pated  fellow  tear  a 
passion  to  tatters,  to  very  rags,  to  split  the  ears 
of  the  groundlings,  who,  for  the  most  part, 
are  capable  of  nothing  but  inexplicable  dumb 
shows  and  noise  ;  I  would  have  such  a  fellow 
whipped  for  o'erdoing  Termagant;  it  out- 
herods  Herod.  Pray  you,  avoid  it." 

All  at  once  was  presented  a  strange,  unex- 
pected attraction,  not  set  down  in  the  bills. 
The  four  or  five  players  to  whom  this  is  ad- 
dressed are  wont  to  receive  it  with  bows  of 
acquiescence,  intelligent  glances  at  each  other 
and  at  their  instructor  to  express  comprehen- 
sion, concurrence  of  opinion,  and  willingness. 
The  actor  who  had  lurked  and  listened  had 


THE  CHAMPION  31 

the  role  of  the  "first  player,"  and  was  the 
spokesman  of  the  party.  He  led  these  de- 
monstrations with  sufficient  discretion,  but 
when  his  cue  was  given  he  responded  with  a 
hoarse  drunken  thickness  ornamented  with  an 
unmistakable  hiccup. 

"  I  'se  warrant  yer  (hie)  honor !  " 
His  potations  before  he  made  his  first  ap- 
pearance this  evening  had  not  been  so  deep  as 
to  intoxicate  him,  but  he  had  since  reinforced 
them  heavily.  He  had  sought  to  sober  him- 
self by  a  cold  application  to  the  head  and 
neck  before  again  "  going  on ; "  the  heated 
air,  however,  and  the  excitement  were  fast 
doing  away  with  its  good  effects. 

Hamlet,  striving  to  maintain  his  composure 
and  self-possession  in  the  presence  of  the  audi- 
ence, addressed  the  second  long  exhortation 
chiefly  to  the  others.  He  could  not  have  de- 
vised a  worse  expedient.  The  "  first  player," 
eager  to  assert  his  precedence  among  his  fel- 
lows, and  to  impress  the  star  with  the  convic- 
tion that  he  was  perfectly  sober  and  reliable, 
gave  such  prominence  to  his  acquiescent  dumb 


32  THE  CHAMPION 

show  that  it  became  extravagant  and  uncouth, 
and  before  the  lines  of  the  admonition  were 
concluded  he  was  bowing  about  the  stage  like 
a  clown. 

There  was  a  vague,  suppressed  titter  in  the 
parquet.  A  sharp,  sibilant  hiss  swept  down 
from  the  gallery.  The  other  mock  players, 
forgetting  their  appropriate  pantomime,  stood 
as  still  as  if  stricken  into  stone.  The  equi- 
librium of  the  great  star  was  fairly  shaken. 
There  was  a  quiver  singularly  like  stage  fright 
in  those  clear  melodious  tones,  but  he  gallantly 
persisted  to  the  end,  and  gave  the  "first 
player  "  his  cue. 

"  Reformed !  "  exclaimed  the  "  first  player  " 
automatically,  —  he  had  forgotten  every  word 
of  his  lines  but  this.  "  We  've  reformed,"  he 
reiterated,  "  an'  —  an'  —  we  ain't  never  goin' 
ter  do  it  no  more,"  he  declared,  leering  face- 
tiously at  the  audience. 

"  Come  off  !  Come  off  !  "  insisted  the  fren- 
zied stage  manager,  in  a  sepulchral  undertone 
from  behind  the  scenes. 

But  the  sodden  idiot  advanced  to  the  foot- 


THE  CHAMPION  33 

lights  beyond  the  reach  of  the  sheltering  cur- 
tain which  would  fain  have  gathered  him  in. 

The  star  bowed  with  dignity  and  retired, 
and  the  "  first  player  "  began  his  explanation 
to  the  audience  amidst  a  storm  of  hisses. 

"  Gen'elmen  an'  lad'es,  —  I  mean  lad'es 
an'  gen'elmen,"  the  gallant  soul  corrected 
himself,  —  "  want  ter  make  a  little  speege,  — 
I  forgot  lines  —  (hie)  prompter  throws  me  the 
word,  —  but  (hie)  he  's  got  no  teeth,  for  I 
can't  make  him  out,  —  go  look  at  book,  — 
boss  is  a-callin'  me  now,  —  make  it  all  right, 
—  (hie)  — be  back  d'rec'ly." 

The  bell  jangled  eloquently  for  the  curtain 
to  fall. 

"  Let  it  down  on  him,  —  don't  care  if  it 
kills  him ! "  was  heard  in  the  frantic  mana- 
gerial tones  from  the  wings. 

The  characteristically  good-natured  Ameri- 
can audience  burst  into  roars  of  laughter,  and 
the  curtain  came  down  amidst  a  storm  of  sar- 
castic applause  before,  and  not  upon,  the 
gravely  bowing  "  first  player." 

The   great   star  was  with  some  difficulty 


34  THE  CHAMPION 

beguiled  into  going  on  with  the  play.  The 
uproarious  audience  was  quieted  —  nay, 
melted  —  by  the  sight  of  the  managerial  dis- 
tress and  the  terms  of  the  heart-broken  apo- 
logy which  was  offered.  The  curtain  was  rung 
up ;  the  performance  recommenced  at  the  en- 
trance of  Polonius,  Kosencrantz,  and  Guilden- 
stern;  and  these  preliminaries  arranged,  the 
stage  manager,  the  manager  of  the  theatre,  his 
friend  of  the  skeleton-like  contour,  the  leader 
of  the  orchestra,  a  number  of  the  minor  mem- 
bers of  the  company,  and  a  strong  detachment 
of  self -constituted  "  bosses  "  went  in  a  differ- 
ent spirit  to  reckon  with  the  author  of  all 
this  woe. 

Why  nobody  "  nabbed  "  Ned  was  always  a 
mystery  to  him  afterward.  Forgetting  him- 
self at  the  crisis  he  sprang  boldly  out  of  his 
chair  and  participated  in  the  varied  excite- 
ments ensuing  behind  the  scenes  as  freely  as 
if  he  owned  the  theatre.  Perhaps  he  might 
not  have  been  so  eager  to  hear  and  see  had  he 
divined  the  influence  that  this  incident  would 
exert  on  his  immediate  future.  He  followed 


THE  CHAMPION  35 

the  "  management "  and  the  crowd  of  "  supes," 
scene-shifters,  call-boys,  and  "  dead-heads  "  to 
the  door  of  the  dressing-room  where  the  un- 
lucky "first  player"  was  to  be  called  to 
account. 

This  personage  had  divested  himself  of  his 
stage  toggery  and  stood  there  in  his  every-day 
clothes,  a  coarse,  slouching,  red-faced  man  in  a 
brownish  suit  and  a  checked  shirt.  Within 
the  room  another  actor  was  hastily  arraying 
himself  in  the  gaudy  attire  which  the  "  first 
player  "  had  been  accustomed  to  wear  as  the 
"Player  King."  The  substitute  was  almost 
pathetic  in  his  anxiety  as  he  dressed  himself, 
nervously  repeating  aloud  the  "  lines "  and 
giving  not  an  instant's  notice  to  the  crowd  of 
bystanders  about  the  open  door  nor  to  the 
interview  between  the  management  and  the 
"  first  player." 

This  was  sufficiently  stormy.  The  unfortu- 
nate "  first  player  "  got  his  walking-papers  in 
no  measured  terms.  Mr.  Gorham  took  occa- 
sion to  interject  some  very  severe  remarks, 
although  the  affair  was  really  none  of  his 


36  THE  CHAMPION 

business,  the  grievance  lying  between  the 
manager  of  the  company  and  the  actor. 

"  It 's  none  of  your  funeral,  anyhow/'  cried 
the  goaded  "  first  player  "  indignantly. 

He  snapped  his  fingers  in  Gorham's  face, 
giving  the  high  silk  hat,  which  was  always 
precariously  perched  on  its  owner's  head,  a 
fillip  that  sent  it  rolling  on  the  floor  among 
the  crowd. 

Gorham's  arrogant  and  peremptory  man- 
ners made  him  a  very  unpopular  man.  Never- 
theless it  might  have  been  an  accident  —  al- 
though it  looked  singularly  like  design  —  that 
the  hat  was  in  a  moment  trampled  into  a 
shapeless  wreck  by  twoscore  sturdy  feet. 

Even  when  under  no  provocation,  he  showed 
in  every  gesture  how  vehement  and  impulsive 
was  his  nature.  Now,  insulted  in  his  own 
theatre,  he  shook  off  the  slight  restraints 
which  he  acknowledged.  It  suited  his  humor 
to  consider  the  "  first  player's  "  demonstration 
as  a  blow.  He  looked  positively  tigerish  as  he 
sprung  upon  the  actor.  The  energy  of  his 
wrath  gave  much  "  power  to  his  elbow ;  "  the 


THE  CHAMPION  37 

blows  that  fell  from  his  clenched  fist  had  a 
wonderfully  resonant  compact  sound,  —  it 
made  Ned  wince  to  think  that  a  man's  head 
and  face  received  them.  The  "  first  player  " 
could  do  little  to  defend  himself.  The  crowd, 
that  always  turns  to  the  successful  side,  lifted 
not  a  finger  to  aid  or  protect  him. 

And  high  above  all  the  tumult  the  "  Player 
King,"  putting  on  now  his  robes  of  state,  and 
now  his  tinsel  crown,  daubing  his  grave  anx- 
ious face  with  red  and  white,  repeated  his 
"  lines  "  heedless  of  the  commotion. 

In  less  time  than  it  can  be  told,  the  actor, 
fearfully  beaten,  was  partly  dragged  and 
partly  kicked  to  the  back  window,  and  there 
was  thrust  bodily  forth.  A  heavy  thud  out- 
side told  of  a  heavy  fall. 

Manager  Gorham  turned  from  the  window, 
wiping  the  blood  from  his  hands  upon  his 
handkerchief,  and  looking  about  in  sarcastic 
triumph  at  the  crowd  that  had  trampled  upon 
his  hat.  Ned  was  astonished  to  observe  that 
these  men  seemed  to  have  forgotten  their 
share  in  that  little  transaction,  for  several  who 


38  THE  CHAMPION 

had  been  most  demonstrative  in  that  expres- 
sion of  contempt  spoke  to  Gorham  now  with 
earnest  respectfulness,  and  in  grave  reprehen- 
sion of  the  poor  wretch  whose  sore  bones  lay 
out  on  the  flagging  in  the  alley.  The  man- 
ager gave  a  short,  fierce,  snort-like  response, 
and  as  he  turned  abruptly  he  almost  ran  over 
Ned. 

"  Get  out  of  my  way,  boy,  or  I  '11  kill 
you  !  "  he  exclaimed  irritably. 

Ned,  roused  to  a  realization  of  the  situation, 
shrank  back  among  the  huge  flats.  It  was 
only  the  general  excitement  which  prevented 
his  discovery.  Gorham  must  have  thought 
him  one  of  the  call-boys.  Ned  stole  swiftly 
away  from  shadow  to  shadow,  from  flat  to  flat, 
till  he  reached  his  old  retreat.  He  sprang 
into  the  chair  and  sat  there  panting,  feeling 
much  like  a  mouse  regaining  its  hole  after  a 
perilous  but  successful  tour  of  the  pantry. 

The  stage  was  again  before  him,  all  glitter 
and  splendor.  The  play  of  Hamlet  —  that 
subtlest  delineation  of  the  subtlest  character 
ever  conceived  by  the  mind  of  man  —  was 


THE  CHAMPION  39 

once  more  in  its  triumphal  progress.  The 
audience  hung  breathless  on  every  word. 
Ned  cared  now  for  none  of  it.  He  was  dis- 
couraged, —  cast  down.  He  was  still  young 
and  ingenuous  enough  to  be  grieved  by  those 
contemptible  phases  of  human  nature  exhib- 
ited in  the  manager,  when  he  so  brutally 
proved  himself  the  master  in  his  own  house, 
in  the  truckling  spirit  of  the  crowd,  in  the 
degradation  and  coarse  vice  of  the  actor,  the 
forlorn  "  first  player."  As  to  himself  —  he 
too  was  much  to  blame.  He  was  pierced 
with  a  full  realization  of  the  wickedness  of 
his  presence  here. 

"  My  mother  would  call  it  stealing  an'  no- 
thin'  shorter,"  he  said,  remembering  her 
homely,  direct  phrase. 

Then  he  had  a  vivid  mental  picture  of  her. 
He  knew  that  again  and  again  she  was  going 
down  the  long  steep  flights  of  stairs  to  the 
street  door  to  peer  into  the  dark  thoroughfare, 
wondering  at  his  continued  absence,  and  trem- 
bling to  think  of  the  many  temptations  that 
lead  a  boy  to  crime  in  a  great  city. 


40  THE  CHAMPION 

Whatever  may  be  the  beneficial  educational 
effects  of  seeing  the  play  of  Hamlet  from  the 
gallery,  they  are  certainly  lacking  in  a  view 
stolen  from  the  wings,  with  fifty  cents  heavy 
on  the  conscience,  nothing  at  all  on  the  stom- 
ach, a  great  and  growing  dread  of  discovery, 
and  a  morbid  presentiment  that  something 
terrible  is  about  to  happen. 

Was  it  not  far  better,  Ned  thought,  to  be 
at  home,  singing  with  his  mother  their  simple 
songs  about  the  Good  Shepherd,  according  to 
their  wont  in  those  evenings  when  he  was  at 
leisure  from  the  office?  The  kettle  used  to 
join  in  with  a  will  and  make  the  duet  a  trio ; 
the  fire  would  roar  it  into  a  chorus ;  the  mon- 
key-stove would  get  red  hot  with  sheer  good 
will ;  his  mother's  face,  usually  so  pale,  would 
glow  like  a  rosy  girl's ;  the  two-year-old  sister 
would  babble  her  admiration  of  the  kerosene 
lamp.  And  he  would  feel  that,  being  the  only 
son  of  his  mother  and  she  a  widow,  he  occupied 
a  highly  responsible  and  dignified  position,  and 
that  it  behooved  him  to  be  frugal  and  steady 
and  sensible,  and  hard-working  like  a  man,  for 


THE  CHAMPION  41 

his  father,  a  Scotch  emigrant,  in  dying  had 
left  his  family  quite  alone  in  this  western 
country.  Thus  Ned  would  infuse  his  im- 
portance into  his  quavering  alto  as  he  sang, 
until  it  seemed,  to  him  and  his  mother  at  least, 
as  sonorous  and  as  grand  as  the  biggest  double 
bass.  Ah,  —  surely,  surely  better  these  gentle 
innocent  joys  than  any  stolen  pleasures. 

He  began  to  think  of  trying  to  escape  by 
the  window  at  which  he  had  entered.  Then 
a  frantic  terror  seized  him.  Was  the  man 
still  lying  there  where  he  had  been  thrown  ? 
Ned  had  heard  the  heavy  thud  on  the  flag- 
ging of  the  alley,  —  had  any  one  heard  the 
man  walk  away  ?  He  had  been  severely 
beaten,  and  that,  too,  while  intoxicated.  He 
had  been  hurled  out  of  the  window,  —  a  seri- 
ous fall !  Had  he  risen  ?  —  would  he  ever 
rise  again  ? 

Ned  began  to  shiver.  He  concluded  to 
await  the  close  of  the  performance  and  follow 
the  employees  out  of  the  side  door,  —  there 
must  surely  be  some  such  exit  if  only  he  knew 
where  to  find  it. 


42  THE  CHAMPION 

He  could  not  have  explained  why  he  was 
afraid  to  seek  to  escape  by  the  window,  but 
he  said  to  himself  that  if  the  man  had  been 
killed  by  the  fall  he  would  not  be  the  first 
to  discover  it.  His  own  wrong-doing  here 
to-night  had  made  him  sensitive  to  suspicion, 
for  wrong-doing  always  fosters  cowardice.  A 
brave  heart  implies  a  clear  conscience. 

He  strove  to  pacify  his  impatience  as  he 
waited. 

"  I  was  mighty  sharp-set  to  come !  "  he 
said  sarcastically. 

Once  or  twice  he  gave  a  sudden  start  and 
sat  upright  on  the  crimson  cushions  of  the 
great  luxurious  chair. 

Once  or  twice  shadows  wavered  across  the 
brilliantly  lighted  stage,  —  he  rubbed  his 
eyes.  The  words  he  heard  meant  nothing; 
the  figures  he  saw  became  grotesque,  mingled, 
ill-defined.  They  were  suddenly  gone,  —  an 
interval,  —  an  utter  blank  — 

All  was  dark  about  him.  He  thought  he 
was  in  bed  at  home.  He  strove  to  turn  over, 


THE  CHAMPION  43 

—  his  bed  was  too  short,  —  too  narrow.  In 
amazement  he  began  to  feel  about  him, — 
there  were  soft  velvet  cushions  beneath  him,  — 
heavy  wood  carving  on  either  side.  His  heart 
sprang  into  his  mouth.  He  had  fallen  asleep 
in  Hamlet's  chair.  Actors  and  audience  were 
gone,  —  he  wondered  that  the  stir  of  the 
crowd  had  failed  to  wake  him.  The  theatre 
was  dark  and  deserted,  the  doors  were  locked, 
and  beneath  the  walls  lay  perhaps  the  body 
of  a  dead  man. 

He  started  up  trembling  at  the  thought. 
The  moon's  pallid  light  fell  through  one  of 
the  lofty  windows  above  the  gallery  and  quiv- 
ered in  ghostly  fashion  upon  the  stage  where 
erstwhile  the  filial  Dane  had  hearkened  to  the 
hollow  voice  of  the  spectre  of  a  murdered  sire. 
The  white  glimmer  gave  wan  and  wavering 
glimpses  of  the  scenery  of  this  strange  mimic 
world.  Mountains  loomed  up  in  the  clare-ob- 
scure.  A  painted  galleon  on  a  painted  ocean 
was  bravely  sailing  away,  bound  for  nowhere. 

Suddenly  —  was  that  a  moving  shadow 
among  the  motionless  shadows  ?  Ned  stared 


44  THE  CHAMPION 

hard  at  it.  There  was  no  mistake.  The 
moonlight  showed  an  indistinct  figure  advan- 
cing stealthily  down  the  stage. 

Far,  far  away  a  great  clock  struck  one. 
The  single  tone,  as  it  invaded  the  silence,  had 
a  weird  abruptness.  It  sent  a  chill  through 
Ned's  heart.  A  superstitious  terror  had  laid 
hold  upon  him.  With  starting  eyes  fixed  upon 
the  apparition,  he  shrank  softly  back  into  his 
hiding  place. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  apparition  advanced  a  few  paces 
down  the  centre  of  the  stage.  As  it  stood 
there  in  the  fainting  shimmer  of  the  moon- 
beams, its  head  stretched  forth  as  if  it  scented 
the  dawn,  Ned  could  hear  nothing  but  the 
tumultuous  beating  of  his  own  heart. 

The  figure  paused  thus  only  for  a  moment, 
Then  it  leaped  into  the  air  and  cut  a  wiry 
caper. 

To  people  more  conversant  with  the  tradi- 
tional manners  and  customs  of  ghosts  this 
might  seem  so  gross  a  departure  from  spectral 
etiquette  as  to  induce  doubt  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  manifestation.  But  to  the  boy 
the  grotesque  gesture  seemed  horribly  un- 
canny. He  sprang  from  his  seat  —  his  limbs 
failed  him  and  he  sank  back;  he  sought  to 
scream  —  not  a  sound  came  from  his  dry  and 
parched  lips. 


46  THE  CHAMPION 

"  Ye  're  too  drunk  yit  fur  this  biz,  pard." 
A  hoarse,  half-suppressed  voice  issued  from 
the  wings. 

A  short,  thickset,  bow-legged  man  was 
emerging  thence,  and  the  figure  on  the  stage 
turned  to  meet  him. 

"  Pshaw !  "  said  the  tall  apparition  con- 
temptuously. "  I  'm  as  sober  as  the  bishop." 

And  what  was  this?  A  familiar  voice; 
and  now  that  Ned  looked  again,  a  familiar 
figure.  No  ghost,  —  only  the  sorry  "  first 
player,"  whom  Ned  had  imagined  as  lying 
dead  outside  on  the  flagging  of  the  alley. 

((  I  mus'  be  gittin'  weak  in  the  upper 
story  !  "  the  boy  said  to  himself. 

He  was  so  rejoiced  to  be  freed  from  his 
superstitious  terrors,  so  glad,  too,  to  see  the 
"  first  player  "  in  full  life  and  to  know  that 
no  tragedy  had  that  night  been  enacted  under 
this  roof  save  the  tragedy  of  Hamlet,  that 
he  laughed  slyly  as  he  rested  his  chin  on  the 
high  arm  of  the  chair,  and  with  merry  eyes 
watched  the  men.  He  hardly  cared  to  specu- 
late upon  the  strange  fact  of  their  presence 


THE  CHAMPION  47 

here  at  this  hour.  He  was  only  waiting  for 
them  to  be  gone  that  he  might  make  his  escape 
at  last. 

"  I  don't  want  no  mo'  o'  these  crazy  shines, 
though,  ef  ye  do  be  so  mighty  sober/'  said  the 
short  man  sulkily.  "  Somebody  out  there  — 
the  night  watchman,  mebbe  —  will  hear  ye 
trampling  in  'ere,  an'  then  wher'  will  we  be  ?  " 

"A-scootin'  up  the  alley,"  with  a  free  ges- 
ture of  his  right  arm.  The  "first  player" 
was  difficult  to  repress. 

The  surly,  thickset  man  —  Ned  could  not 
see  his  face,  but  his  slouch,  his  voice,  his  man- 
ner were  full  of  malignant  intimations  —  evi- 
dently thought  best  to  change  his  tone  with 
his  tipsy  companion.  He  put  down  a  five- 
gallon  galvanized  iron  can  that  he  had  been 
carrying,  and  stared  with  an  admirable  imi- 
tation of  surprise  at  the  "first  player." 

"  Why,  —  look-a-here,  if  ye  jes'  wanter 
have  a  little  aggervation  with  the  perlice  an' 
skeer  Gorham  by  lettin'  him  know  that  we 
hev  broke  into  his  theatre,  /  'm  with  ye  every 
time  !  He  warn't  mean  enough,  nohow,  for 


48  THE  CHAMPION 

the  way  that  ye  have  laid  off  ter  pay  him 
back !  He  never  done  nothin'  but  kick  ye  like 
ye  were  a  cur,  an'  beat  ye  half  blind,  an'  fling 
ye  out  o'  the  window !  'T  would  have  been 
assault  with  intent  ter  kill  if  a  pore  man  had 
done  all  that,  but  rich  Gorham,  —  pshaw ! 
that 's  nothin'.  Jes'  let 's  stir  up  a  little  fuss 
an'  fetch  the  perlice,  —  ter  skeer  him  !  Ho  ! 
Ho!  We  ain't  af eared  of  the  peelers.  'Ere 
goes  the  ballet." 

He  danced  off  in  the  moonlight,  shaking 
his  fingers  in  the  air  with  wild  gesticulations 
and  kicking  his  short  bandy  legs  high,  right 
and  left,  —  but  softly,  softly,  as  if  he  were 
shod  with  felt. 

The  "  first  player "  stood  for  a  moment 
bewildered  by  this  wild  scheme  to  scare  the 
manager.  Its  absurdity  seemed  to  sober  him. 
He  strode  off  suddenly  after  the  dancing  fig- 
ure. A  clutch  stopped  it. 

"You  fool,"  he  said,  with  an  oath,  "I 
mean  to  burn  the  house  to  the  ground,  and 
you  know  it !  " 

"  Well,  warn't  (I  agreeable,  —  if  there 's  no 
insurance  ?  "  replied  the  bow-legged  man. 


THE  CHAMPION  49 

"I  tell  you  I  heard  from  Gorham's  own 
mouth  that  the  policy  expired  yesterday  at 
noon.  He  and  the  agent  had  a  burst-up,  and 
he  wouldn't  renew.  I  heard  him  tell  that 
deadheaded  crony  of  his ;  you  know  Gorham 
has  got  a  tongue  that  is  set  on  a  pivot  and 
wags  at  both  ends." 

The  stocky,  bandy-legged  figure  swayed 
back  and  forth  with  extravagant  manifesta- 
tions of  delight.  "  That  gets  Gorham  !  I  'd 
have  been  sorry  for  the  Insurance  Company 
if  it  wuz  ter  lose,  ye  know.  Sorry  fur  true  ! 
I  always  had  a  soft  place  in  my  heart  for  a 
corporation  —  pore  motherless  thing  !  " 

His  prominent  teeth  gleamed,  —  it  was  as 
much  a  snarl  as  a  smile. 

"  We  are  wastin'  time,"  he  said  suddenly, 
with  an  air  of  returning  to  business.  "  Take 
this  can  o'  kerosene  an*  empty  it  on  the  floor 
of  the  green-room,  while  I  fix  the  other  com- 
bustibles." 

The  "  first  player  "  stood  amazed.  "  You 
blamed  idiot !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  there  's  oil 
enough  on  these  canvases  to  send  the  whole 
place  a-flaring  like  perdition." 


50  THE  CHAMPION 

The  thickset  man's  fierceness  returned. 

"  Who  is  killin'  this  cat/'  he  snarled  an- 
grily, —  "  you  or  me  ?  I  had  my  grudge  agin 
this  theatre  jes'  a-dunnin'  night  an'  day  ter  be 
paid,  an'  I  promised  ter  help  ye  ef  I  bossed 
the  job  ;  ain't  that  the  trade  ?  " 

"The  shortest  way/'  muttered  the  "first 
player/'  yielding  the  point.  He  caught  up 
the  can  and  disappeared  in  the  direction  of 
the  green-room. 

The  stocky  figure  on  the  stage  was  so  sud- 
denly -joined  by  another  that  Ned  rubbed  his 
eyes,  thinking  he  saw  two  where  there  was 
but  one. 

"I  got  the  star's  wardrobe  out  o'  the 
dressin'-room/'  the  newcomer  said  in  an  agi- 
tated whisper. 

"  Keep  dark/'  said  the  thickset  man,  —  he 
nodded  toward  the  exit  where  the  "first 
player "  had  disappeared.  "  He  don't  sus- 
picion nothin' ;  he  thinks  there  ain't  a  soul 
here  but  him  an'  me.  He  bargained  that  no- 
thing should  be  took !  He  said  that  he  ain't 
a  thief,  an'  the  goods  would  get  us  found  out. 


THE  CHAMPION  51 

But  you  just  make  the  haul  anyhow,  —  but 
make  it  sly,  for  true." 

The  two  rascals  went  through  the  dumb 
show  of  much  merry  scorn  of  the  "  first 
player's  "  stipulations. 

"  Our  pals  have  tolled  off  the  night  watch- 
man, —  an'  they  're  workin'  at  the  safe  now. 
Dynamite  is  the  word,  —  it 's  a  time  lock,  they 
think." 

This  was  overwhelming  to  Ned,  who  had 
not  dreamed  that  the  receipts  were  kept  in  the 
theatre  over  night,  —  a  considerable  sum  must 
have  been  realized  from  that  crowded  house. 

The  newcomer  was  starting  off.  The  thick- 
set scamp  beckoned  him  back.  "  Did  the  star 
leave  anything  besides  the  rich  costumes  ?  " 

"  Left  gloves." 

The  attitude  of  the  stocky  figure  expressed 
disappointment. 

"  Left  handkerchief." 

The  disappointment  evidently  deepened. 

"  Left  studs  on  dressing-table  —  diamonds 
—  very  fine  !  " 

The  speaker  disappeared,  with  a  triumphant 
wave  of  the  hand. 


52  THE  CHAMPION 

The  bandy-legged  rascal,  inflated  with  the 
pride  of  the  moment,  strode  down  to  the  dark 
foot-lamps. 

"  The  keerlessness  of  one  man  blesses  the 
keerf ulness  of  another,"  he  declaimed,  ad- 
dressing the  empty  auditorium. 

This  was  doubtless  the  finest  presentation  of 
a  villain  ever  seen  upon  these  boards,  for  this 
was  the  genuine  article. 

Whether  a  light  suddenly  sprang  up  in  one 
corner  of  the  building,  whether  Ned  heard 
the  crackling  of  burning  timber  and  canvas, 
or  whether  these  impressions  were  delusions 
of  his  own  over-excited  brain,  he  could  never 
say.  He  was  possessed  by  the  fear  of  being 
burned  alive  in  the  intricacies  of  this  place, 
knowing  no  door,  and  no  window  save  the 
one  at  which  he  had  entered. 

This  anxiety  dominated  even  his  terror  of 
being  discovered  by  these  rascals,  although 
he  knew  they  would  have  wrung  his  neck 
without  a  moment's  compunction  to  prevent 
him  from  blabbing.  He  sprang  up  and  stole 
tremulously  off  through  the  darkness,  striving 


THE  CHAMPION  53 

to  rouse  his  fainting  memory  and  his  instinct 
for  locality,  and  to  find  the  window.  How 
many  times  he  circled  around  the  dusky  laby- 
rinth he  never  knew.  All  at  once  he  felt  a 
great  lightening  of  his  spirits,  for  he  saw  sud- 
denly before  him  a  black  oblong  space  which 
he  instantly  discerned  to  be  a  door.  Noise- 
lessly, lightly,  he  sped  to  the  aperture  to  find 
himself  in  the  dark  corridor  of  the  building. 
This  passage,  of  course,  followed  the  direction 
of  the  wall  of  the  semicircular  auditorium, 
but  this  fact  was  not  apparent  to  Ned,  except 
as  revealed  gradually  by  the  sense  of  touch, 
for  no  longer  did  he  have  even  the  faint  light 
of  the  remote  windows  above  the  gallery,  and 
the  darkness  was  intense,  almost  total,  indeed. 
Sometimes  a  vague  glimmer  came  from  doors 
a  bit  ajar,  and  giving  upon  the  dim  auditorium 
within,  but  these  occurred  at  long  intervals, 
and  looking  fearfully  over  his  shoulder  he 
could  not  distinguish  the  portal  by  which  he 
had  entered.  It  was  gone,  —  vanished  in  the 
gloom !  As  he  stood  gazing  back  for  this  one 
landmark,  which  he  had  thought  he  might 


54  THE  CHAMPION 

keep  as  guide,  he  heard  a  sound  in  the  utter 
silence  that  made  him  quail,  —  a  regular  throb- 
bing beat  which  he  recognized  presently  as  the 
plunging  of  his  own  heart.  He  must  needs 
have  courage,  he  reasoned  within  himself,  as 
he  leaned  back  faint  and  tremulous  against 
the  wall,  or  he  would  perish  here  like  a  rat  in 
a  trap. 

He  began  now  to  press  on  swiftly,  some 
orderly  instinct  of  his  nature  soothed  and  his 
spirit  quieted  by  the  release  from  the  chaos 
of  unaccustomed  objects  which  had  confused 
him  behind  the  scenes.  The  smooth  corridor, 
the  absence  of  all  obstruction,  the  sense  of 
progress,  as  if  so  conventional  a  passage  must 
lead  to  some  objective  point  of  exit,  some 
chance  of  escape,  encouraged  him.  He  had 
known  little  as  to  the  usual  construction  of 
theatres,  but  rallying  his  faculties,  his  memory, 
his  intuition,  his  observation,  he  began  to  ap- 
preciate where  he  was.  The  wall  on  his  left 
hand,  he  reflected,  must  inclose  those  stores 
by  which  the  greater  frontage  on  the  street 
was  utilized  ;  in  their  rear  the  immense  semi- 


THE  CHAMPION  55 

circular  auditorium  of  the  theatre  filled  the 
space,  for  the  shops  were  of  a  kind  that  re- 
quired no  great  conveniences  of  storage,  — 
he  remembered  them  now,  a  florist's  establish- 
ment, a  tobacconist's  stand,  a  photographer's 
gallery,  —  and  most  of  the  rooms  of  the  up- 
per stories  were  occupied  as  offices.  Thus 
the  lofty  windows  above  the  gallery  gave  the 
auditorium  of  the  theatre  its  only  source  of 
ventilation  and  of  light  except,  indeed,  from 
artificial  means.  A  door  opened  on  the  side 
street,  and  some  windows  were  in  the  rear,  and 
the  house  was  provided  with  no  other  exit  in 
front  than  a  great  door,  at  the  end  of  a  long, 
tunnel-like  lobby,  opening  upon  the  broad 
avenue,  which  served  for  the  admission  and 
the  dispersal  of  the  audience. 

Even  while  he  was  mentally  recapitulating 
these  points  he  became  suddenly  uncertain  as 
to  this  unique  source  of  light,  for  as  he  pro- 
gressed the  darkness  about  him  had  become 
visibly  mitigated.  It  was  dimness  rather  than 
obscurity  now,  —  a  medium  dull  indeed,  but 
which  permitted  the  discrimination  of  sur- 


56  THE  CHAMPION 

rounding  objects.  Ned  paused  suspiciously. 
Silence  reigned,  —  dead  silence !  No  confla- 
gration as  yet !  He  asked  himself  if  he  could 
be  approaching  some  door  or  window,  some 
opportunity  of  exit  hitherto  unknown  to  him, 
for  the  corridor,  the  periphery,  as  it  were,  of 
the  semicircular  auditorium,  was  light  enough 
now  for  him  to  distinguish  the  curving  walls 
on  either  hand,  the  terra-cotta  tints  predomi- 
nating in  their  frescoed  panels,  the  darker 
terra-cotta  tone  of  the  carpet  beneath  his  feet, 
—  nay,  as  he  came  to  the  point  of  intersec- 
tion with  the  lobby  leading  to  the  street  door 
he  saw  the  gilded  frames  of  the  portraits  of 
famous  actors  on  the  walls,  and  recognized 
Booth,  Barrett,  McCullough,  and  Irving !  The 
great  door  was  fast  shut  —  no  hope  thence. 
The  little  wicket  of  the  barricade  across  the 
lobby,  that  served  to  hold  back  the  press  of 
the  people  from  the  ticket-taker,  was  ajar,  and 
from  the  box-office,  at  one  side,  came  a  dim 
suffusion  of  light.  He  stood  still  with  a  wildly 
beating  heart,  —  for  he  heard  from  an  inner 
room  beyond  the  office  the  sibilant,  cautious 


THE  CHAMPION  57 

tone  of  a  half  whisper,  and  now  and  again 
the  metallic  clink  of  some  instrument  dexter- 
ously handled.  The  thieves  were  still  working 
at  the  safe,  —  and  as  yet  it  held  fast ! 

It  was  instinct  rather  than  a  realized  pru- 
dence that  set  the  frightened  boy  scurrying 
like  a  rabbit  away  from  that  dangerous  zone 
of  light.  Miscreants  such  as  these,  suddenly 
discovered  in  their  nefarious  job,  would  not 
hesitate  at  murder,  more  than  at  larceny  and 
arson,  and  his  bones  in  the  midst  of  the  debris 
of  the  great  fire  would  never  be  found  to  tell 
his  forlorn  fate.  But  that  the  wall  guided 
him  from  the  foyer  and  along  the  corridor,  he 
could  not  have  regained  the  stage  door ;  he 
hardly  knew  how  he  had  reached  it ;  he  real- 
ized only  that  he  was  once  more  in  the  inex- 
tricable tangle  of  flats  and  wings  and  ropes 
and  stage  furniture  behind  the  scenes,  and 
wildly  seeking  the  window  at  which  he  had 
gained  entrance  to  this  troublous  episode  in 
his  lif  e. 

Still  the  moonbeams  streamed  through  those 
lofty  casements  above  the  gallery  and  down 


58  ,  THE  CHAMPION 

upon  the  immaterial  audience  of  thronging1 
shadows  in  the  place  of  the  brilliant  assem- 
blage so  lately  vanished  thence.  With  mel- 
ancholy intimations,  the  white  sheeny  radiance 
sent  vague,  phantasmal  gleams  across  the  broad 
spread  of  the  stage  and  along  the  dreary  vistas 
of  the  wings,  where  the  sham  misery  of  imagi- 
nation is  wont  to  ape  the  real  tragedy  of  life. 
Here  the  contrast  with  the  utter  darkness  was 
so  sharp,  the  setting  for  a  single  figure  so 
conspicuous,  that  Ned  scuttled  hastily  across 
the  stage,  himself  like  a  wavering  shadow,  and 
plunged  into  the  turmoil  of  confusion  beyond, 
searching  here  and  there  and  everywhere  for 
the  back  window  at  which  he  had  entered. 

He  had  lost  in  a  measure  the  self-control 
which  he  had  hitherto  staunchly  maintained. 
He  was  awkward,  clumsy,  agitated.  More 
than  once  he  tangled  his  foot  in  a  swaying 
rope ;  here  and  there  he  ran  plumply  against 
the  huge  canvas-covered  frames,  and  set  up  a 
quivering  totter  along  their  great  heights ; 
he  wondered  that  he  did  not  scream  outright 
when  at  last  he  fairly  fell,  plunging  bodily 


THE  CHAMPION  59 

into  a  mimic  boat  adjusted  on  rockers  to 
simulate  the  tossing  of  the  waves.  Never- 
theless, hearing  the  floor  resound  with  the  im- 
pact of  his  fall,  he  had  the  presence  of  mind 
to  lie  still  at  the  bottom  of  the  craft,  listening 
and  fearing  that  the  noise  might  have  roused 
the  thieves  to  apprehension  and  a  tour  of  dis- 
covery. This  would  doubtless  have  ensued, 
but  fortunately  for  him  another  sound  per- 
vaded the  theatre  just  at  that  moment,  and 
overpowered  the  concussion  of  his  fall,  —  a 
dull,  low  roar  it  was,  then  utter  silence. 

Ned  knew  that  the  safe  had  been  forced 
at  last,  and  that  the  explosion  had  served  to 
avert  the  discovery  of  his  presence  through 
the  crash  of  his  noisy  misadventure.  He  rose 
from  the  boat,  trembling,  weak,  but  animated 
with  a  new  hope.  The  finding  of  the  craft 
here  intimated  that  he  was  near  the  wall, 
where  it  had  doubtless  been  heedlessly  thrust 
aside,  for  it  had  naught  to  do  with  the  play 
of  Hamlet,  and  the  furnishings  of  the  castle 
of  Elsinore  filled  all  the  foreground.  He  must 
now  be  near  the  rear  wall,  where  was  the  win- 
dow at  which  he  had  entered. 


60  THE  CHAMPION 

Suddenly  he  saw  before  him  the  dim,  wan 
square  in  the  gloom.  The  next  moment  de- 
spair fell  anew  upon  him.  The  sash  was  down, 
and  secured  by  some  patent  device  which  he 
had  never  before  seen,  and  which  baffled  his 
trembling  fingers. 

Then  he  did  scream,  — a  shrill,  muffled  cry, 
—  so  unlike  his  sturdy  boyish  halloo  that  he 
hardly  recognized  his  own  voice.  Somehow 
it  rescued  him  from  the  torpor  that  was  steal- 
ing over  him.  He  knew  that  it  would  rouse 
those  within  to  a  danger  of  which  they  had 
not  dreamed.  In  another  moment  he  might 
be  helpless  in  their  hands. 

Instantly  he  tore  off  his  shoe.  One  blow 
with  its  heel,  and  the  shivered  glass  was  flying 
in  every  direction.  Through  the  broken  pane 
he  hastily  jumped,  with  the  shoe  still  in  his 
hand.  He  fell  heavily  to  the  ground,  and 
lay  crouching  in  the  shadow  close  in  to  the 
wall. 

He  had  indeed  given  the  alarm.  There  were 
swift  steps  within,  and  then  an  agitated  whis- 
pering at  the  window. 


THE  CHAMPION  61 

The  men  were  evidently  frightened  at  first, 
but  soon  sought  to  reassure  themselves.  It 
was  nothing,  they  said,  —  the  glass  was  doubt- 
less broken  by  some  accident;  a  passer-by 
might  have  thrown  a  stone,  or  perhaps  a 
cracked  pane  had  loosened  and  fallen  out  at 
this  crucial  moment.  "I  know  that  there 
hollerin'  mus'  have  been  a  long  way  off  yon- 
der somewhers,  anyhow,"  declared  the  thick- 
set man.  "  It  sounded  sorter  muffled  an'  far- 
like." 

The  "  first  player "  seemed  to  acquiesce, 
and  then  silence  ensued. 

When  Ned  felt  that  he  could  breathe,  he 
gathered  up  his  sore  bones  and  ran  down  the 
alley,  up  the  side  street,  and  out  upon  the 
broad,  deserted  avenue.  The  lamps  were  all 
out,  municipal  thrift  trusting  for  illumination 
to  the  wavering  moon.  A  blue  light  glimmer- 
ing far  up  the  dusky  hill  told  him  that  the 
"  owl  car  "  had  just  passed.  An  hour  or  so 
must  elapse  before  another  would  appear,  for 
they  ran  at  long  intervals.  He  looked  about 
for  a  policeman.  He  saw  none.  The  city 


62  THE  CHAMPION 

seemed  dead.  He  was  unfamiliar  with  this 
quarter  of  the  town,  but  as  he  sped  along  he 
came  within  sight  of  a  city  square.  There 
he  knew,  under  the  trees,  were  often  tramps, 
spending  the  night  on  the  benches,  —  some- 
times loafers  of  a  better  class  belated  and 
sleeping  off  the  effect  of  their  potations. 
Doubtless  some  of  them  would  know  where 
was  the  nearest  police  station  or  fire-alarm. 
All  that  he  had  seen  seemed  now  so  like  a 
dream  that  he  wondered  whether  after  all  he 
were  not  mistaken,  whether  the  "  first  player  " 
could  really  intend  to  burn  the  theatre. 

As  he  paused  for  breath  he  glanced  back 
in  the  direction  of  the  building  and  diago- 
nally across  the  darkly  massed  trees  of  the 
square.  The  high  steeple  of  the  cathedral  was 
purpling  slowly  in  the  dun-colored  gloom. 
Its  gilded  cross  sprang  suddenly  into  view, 
emblazoned  upon  the  night  like  a  sign  in  the 
sky.  The  dense  foliage  of  the  square  was 
outlined  against  an  angry  crimson  glare  in 
the  distance,  ever  widening  and  ever  deepen- 
ing. Into  its  midst  a  yellow  pennon  of  flame 


THE  CHAMPION  63 

flaunted  to  the  breeze.  The  heavy  tones  of  a 
fire-bell  smote  the  silence  suddenly. 

There  was  a  movement  under  the  trees. 
The  loungers  on  the  benches  were  waking. 
Far  up  dark  intersecting  streets  came  the 
swift  footfalls  of  boys,  who  spring  up  myste- 
riously at  any  hour  of  the  night  or  day,  eager 
to  crowd  around  a  fire.  There  was  too  the 
heavy  tread  of  unseen  policemen  striding 
through  the  gloom.  The  sharp  gong  of  the 
hose-carriage  clamoring  in  the  distance  cleared 
a  pass-way  for  the  swinging  gallop  of  its  white 
horses.  As  it  flashed  around  the  corner  and 
whirled  out  of  sight  in  a  second  it  looked  like 
the  chariot  and  coursers  of  Phoebus  called  out 
on  a  false  alarm  of  dawn.  Two  or  three 
hoarse  drunken  voices  were  aimlessly  calling 
"  Fi-ah !  Fi-ah !  "  and  one  small  boy,  excitedly 
tangling  his  suspenders  as  he  sought  to  ad- 
just them,  ran  along  in  the  middle  of  the 
street  ceaselessly  vociferating,  "  Number  Six 
is  a-comin' ! " 

And  sure  enough  here  was  Number  Six 
cumbrously  rocking  and  swaying  up  the  street, 


64  THE  CHAMPION 

a  big,  polished,  glittering  monster,  leaving 
a  glowing  path  of  live  coals  behind  it  and 
emitting  a  cloud  of  the  blackest  smoke.  The 
driver  of  the  engine  was  whipping  like  mad ; 
its  horses  were  plunging  and  rearing,  and 
straining  every  nerve  and  muscle  ;  its  guard 
of  honor,  all  the  boys  in  the  ward,  ran  admir- 
ingly on  either  side.  Ned  joined  them  from 
force  of  habit,  taking  the  way  back  to  the 
burning  theatre,  dodging  at  the  first  crossing 
the  sudden  on-rush  of  the  team  of  the  hook- 
and-ladder  truck. 

The  smoke  had  hidden  the  moon  and  stars. 
Its  murky  canopy  overhung  the  massive  build- 
ing and  the  vast  crowd,  all  illuminated  by  the 
angry  red  flames  darting  from  roof  and  win- 
dows. The  jets  of  water  rose  high  in  dusky, 
half-descried  curves,  and  fell  hissing  into  the 
conflagration  within.  There  were  many  of 
these  ill-defined  arches  spanning  the  grim 
panorama,  for  Number  Nine  was  in  the  alley, 
two  other  engines  stood  in  the  side  street,  two 
were  in  front  of  the  building,  and  still  three 
others  guarded  the  safety  of  the  block  above. 


THE  CHAMPION  65 

The  firemen  in  their  helmets  and  uniforms,  some 
enveloped  in  long  rubber  coats,  were  here, 
there,  and  everywhere.  They  might  have 
seemed  the  weird  spirits  of  the  flame,  seen 
through  its  writhings  and  contortions  as  if 
they  were  in  its  very  midst.  Presently  word 
was  passed  about  the  crowd  that  their  efforts 
were  subduing  the  terrible  element.  Ned 
watched  with  painful  anxiety  their  exertions. 
He  remembered  many  a  scene  like  this  when  he 
had  reveled  in  the  noise  and  excitement,  when 
a  fire  had  seemed  only  a  grand  spectacular 
display,  its  interest  heightened  by  the  com- 
mensurate danger  and  gallant  courage  of  the 
firemen.  Then  he  had  had  no  thought  of  the 
loss  which  it  represented,  the  distress,  the  men 
thrown  out  of  employment,  a  great  financial 
factor  blotted  from  commercial  progress. 

Now,  how  feverishly  he  hoped  that  the 
building  might  be  saved,  —  that  the  deep  in- 
iquity of  which  he  had  gained  full  knowledge 
by  his  own  wrong-doing  might  be  thwarted ! 
He  felt  that  he  could  hardly  live  carrying 
this  secret,  and  yet  he  had  already  promised 


66  THE  CHAMPION 

himself  never  to  divulge  it.  He  said  to  him- 
self that  he  might  not  always  be  able  to  keep 
the  curb  on  circumstance.  His  story  might 
be  doubted,  or  only  half  believed.  He  might 
draw  suspicion  on  himself,  —  implicate  him- 
self in  the  crime  of  arson.  That  meant  the 
Penitentiary,  —  and  a  long  term.  His  narra- 
tive would  be  in  part  a  confession.  He  had 
choused  the  management  out  of  half  a  dol- 
lar, —  and  that  was  stealing  !  He  must  first 
impeach  his  own  honesty,  then  ask  to  be 
believed  when  he  accused  others.  And  what 
might  not  these  others  say  in  contradiction 
and  recrimination !  Were  they  not  as  likely 
to  be  believed  as  he  ?  Certainly  a  boy  who 
stole  could  scarcely  hope  he  would  not  be 
suspected  of  other  crimes  if  there  were  any 
evidence  against  him.  Ned  dreaded  too  the 
malignity  of  the  men,  —  if  they  were  capable 
of  firing  the  theatre  they  were  capable  of 
falsely  accusing  him.  No  !  —  no  !  —  he  would 
never  tell  that  he  had  witnessed  any  drama  on 
those  boards  save  the  tragedy  of  Hamlet. 
Was  the  fire  less  than  before  ?  They  said 


THE  CHAMPION  67 

so.  It  seemed  to  him  hotter,  redder,  fiercer. 
Before  long  he  knew  that  the  fight  was  hope- 
less. The  west  wall  gave  way.  Through  the 
great  gaps  the  stage  became  visible.  The 
flames  were  licking  up  first  one  and  then  an- 
other of  the  many  heavy  "  sets."  As  the  lurid 
glare  was  flung  upon  some  representation  of 
Alpine  heights  or  moonlit  lake,  or  grim  castle 
battlements  or  bosky  woodland  scene,  —  ideal- 
ized infinitely  in  its  unique  frame  of  wreathing 
flames,  —  the  crowd  gave  it  "  hands,"  as  an 
audience  is  wont  to  applaud  some  fine  new 
manifestation  of  the  scene-painter's  art. 

It  seemed  to  Ned,  knowing  what  he  did, 
very  melancholy.  He  shook  his  head,  and  his 
heart  was  heavy. 

As  he  stood  there  a  familiar  face  attracted 
his  attention. 

"  Is  that  you,  Tom  ?  "  he  called  out. 

"  Nothin'  shorter,"  replied  a  stout,  under- 
sized boy,  nodding  a  round  bullet  head,  sur- 
mounted by  an  old  gray  cap. 

"  Wher'  's  Pete  ?  "  demanded  Ned,  for  this 
was  Pete's  brother. 


68  THE  CHAMPION 

"  I  s'posed  he  wuz  along  of  you.  I  seen 
ye  together  after  dark  a-makin'  off." 

"  Naw,  —  he  hain't  been  with  me  sence." 
Ned  hesitated. 

A  look  of  blank  surprise  was  on  Tom's 
face.  "I  made  sure  he  wuz  with  you/'  he 
said.  "  Pete  hain't  been  home  this  night." 


CHAPTER  IV 

WHEN  Master  Peter  Bateman  ran  away  after 
seeing  his  friend  into  the  theatre  and  past  the 
dragon  he  did  not  run  far. 

That  curious,  gigantic  flower,  with  petals  of 
fluttering  palm  leaves  and  pistil  and  stamens 
of  pyramidal  gas  jets,  was  still  a-bloom  in  the 
darkness,  and  a  friendly  hail  from  beneath  it 
arrested  his  steps. 

"  Hy're,  Pete,"  sang  out  half  a  dozen  boy- 
ish voices. 

"  Hev  a  smoke  ?  "  and  a  soggy  stump  of  a 
cigar  was  extended  with  a  grimy  paw  and  a 
wide  grin  of  invitation.  This  grin  surrounded 
another  stump  of  a  cigar,  which  was  all  aglow 
and  precariously  held  between  the  squirrel- 
teeth  of  a  youngster  of  twelve. 

"  Sim  Gray  hes  been  round  inquirin'  after 
ye,  Pete,"  added  the  boy.  "  He  tole  us  if 


70  THE  CHAMPION 

we  seen  ye  ter  tell  ye  ter  wait  fur  him  'ere. 
He'llbe'longd'rec'ly." 

This  message  obliterated  for  the  moment 
Pete's  recollection  of  his  errand  to  the  station. 

"  What 's  Sim  Gray  a-wantin'  of  me,  I 
wonder  ?  "  he  said,  a  trifle  dubiously.  For 
Pete,  slippery  and  sly  as  he  was,  had  often 
been  a  target  for  the  practical  jokes  of  a  clique 
of  bigger  boys,  of  which  Sim  Gray  was  a 
prominent  member.  The  simplicity  incident 
to  Pete's  comparatively  tender  years  was  an 
odd  contrast  to  the  duplicity  of  his  moral  na- 
ture ;  and  the  tricky  ignoramus,  overreached 
and  bamboozled,  was  a  more  amusing  specta- 
cle to  these  more  knowing  fellows  than  any 
honest  "  greeny  "  could  furnish.  But  beyond 
making  a  fool  of  him  they  had  done  him  no 
harm  hitherto,  and  Pete  was  rather  proud  of 
being  in  request  by  a  person  of  Sim  Gray's 
inches  and  importance. 

Pete  sat  down  on  the  curbstone  to  wait, 
took  the  stump  of  cigar  which  had  been 
gleaned  from  the  dirty  sidewalk,  lighted  it 
at  the  grinning  monkey's  beside  him,  and 


THE  CHAMPION  71 

summoning  all  the  strength  of  stomach  for 
which  boys  are  noted,  tried  hard  to  smoke  it. 
Sim  Gray  was  one  of  those  weak  and 
wicked  young  fellows  with  a  pocket  full  of 
money  and  a  taste  for  low  company,  who  are 
forever  the  prey  of  other  young  fellows  not  so 
weak,  and  yet  more  wicked.  His  father  was 
very  respectable,  socially  and  financially,  and 
more  than  once  he  had  been  obliged  to  strain 
this  double  respectability  to  the  utmost  to  keep 
the  name  of  this  hopeful  scion  out  of  the  po- 
lice reports  and  the  scion  himself  out  of  jail. 
The  boy  had  reformed  time  and  again.  He 
had  been  sent  away  from  home  and  kept 
under  the  strictest  surveillance.  Now,  how- 
ever, as  he  had  been  permitted  to  return,  he 
was  secretly  associating  with  his  former  inti- 
mates, who  sponged  upon  him  and  fleeced  him 
as  of  yore,  and  stood  ready  to  throw  the  blame 
upon  him  at  the  first  approach  of  trouble. 
To  him  they  seemed  only  lively,  good-natured 
young  fellows  who  knew  the  "  ropes  "  and 
were  "seeing  life."  The  police  understood 
them  more  accurately  as  young  scamps,  who 


72  THE  CHAMPION 

had  been  often  suspected  of  small  crimes 
which  generally  could  not  be  proved  upon 
them;  nevertheless  more  than  one  of  the 
party  had  seen  the  inside  of  a  jail.  This  fact 
reinforced  Pete's  hesitation  to  join  them  when 
Sim  Gray  and  his  friends  came  along,  which 
they  presently  did. 

Sim  Gray  was  a  spindling  specimen  of 
seventeen,  with  light,  lank  hair,  big  blood- 
shot light  eyes,  and  a  fawn-colored  suit, — 
the  coat  much  soiled  with  leaning  against 
dirty  bars. 

He  gave  Pete  a  wink  and  a  grimace  as  he 
passed,  but  he  said  nothing.  It  was  one  of 
the  others  who  called  out,  "  Come  on,  Pete, 
—  we  '11  give  ye  a  beer ;  Sim 's  goin'  ter  set 
'em  up." 

Pete  was  still  dubious,  but  flattered.  He 
rose,  flung  away  the  cigar  stump,  and  took 
account  with  his  shaken  stomach  to  ascer- 
tain if  it  could  stand  a  beer  at  Sim  Gray's 
expense. 

They  proceeded  down  several  side  streets 
to  a  low  saloon.  There  were  gaudy  immoral 


THE  CHAMPION  73 

pictures  on  the  walls ;  the  floor  was  filthy 
with  "  tobacco  juice ;  "  the  glasses  were  sadly 
smeared  when  Sim  Gray  undertook  to  "  set 
'em  up."  Pete  was  most  cordially  entreated. 
He  had  not  one  beer  only,  but  several.  Sim 
Gray,  aided  and  abetted  by  the  others,  hos- 
pitably insisted  that  Pete  should  "  smile  " 
again  and  yet  once  more.  Pete  grew  im- 
mensely important  and  pleased.  It  never 
occurred  to  him  that  they  were  systematically 
fuddling  him,  so  that  they  might  enjoy  the 
spectacle  of  his  degradation.  When  his  silly 
antics  proclaimed  him  fairly  on  his  first 
"  drunk  "  a  howl  of  delight  went  up  from  the 
young  hoodlums  ;  the  older  besotted  habitue's 
of  the  saloon  chuckled  over  their  glasses ; 
even  the  saturnine  bar-tender  was  in  high  glee, 
and  offered  another  beer  at  the  expense  of 
the  institution. 

The  hubbub  at  last  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  a  policeman  in  the  vicinity.  It  was 
well,  perhaps,  that  it  was  he  on  this  beat,  for 
this  man  was  a  teetotaler  and  a  member  of  a 
temperance  society.  The  sound  of  "  drunk 


74  THE  CHAMPION 

and  disorderly  "  was  to  him  like  the  trumpet 
to  the  war-horse,  and  "  running  them  in  "  he 
accounted  the  chief  of  his  duties  and  his  dear- 
est pleasure.  He  appeared  suddenly  in  the 
doorway  with  a  countenance  as  stern  and  fixed 
as  if  it  were  carved  in  stone. 

"  Wh-wh-why  —  I  wuz  jes'  goin'  ter  the 
station  ter  see  you  !  "  exclaimed  Pete,  spring- 
ing up  at  the  sight  of  the  glitter  of  the  but- 
tons on  the  blue  uniform,  and  with  an  abrupt 
realization  of  the  purpose  with  which  he  had 
quitted  the  theatre. 

A  wild  yell  of  coarse  laughter  from  the 
crowd  greeted  Pete's  announcement. 

"You  can't  go  none  too  soon/'  said  the 
policeman,  collaring  Pete. 

Then  he  looked  about  him  severely.  "  I  'd 
love  to  lock  you  all  up,"  he  exclaimed  fer- 
vently. 

Nobody  laughed  now.  He  was  known  to 
construe  the  law  very  strictly. 

"  When  you  teach  a  boy  to  drink  you  teach 
him  to  lie,  to  thieve,  and  worse,  for  here" 
—  he  struck  the  bar  with  his  clenched  fist — 


THE  CHAMPION  75 

"is  the  place  where  a  man  puts  the  rope 
around  his  own  neck." 

So  he  went  out  and  left  silence  behind  him. 
Pete's  drunken  mood  shifted  to  gravity  as  he 
was  propelled  along  the  street  by  the  police- 
man's strong  hand  on  his  collar.  Being  now 
in  trouble  himself,  he  became  all  the  more 
anxious  to  report  Ned.  He  told  his  story,  in- 
coherently enough,  however,  hampered  by  the 
wanderings  of  his  fevered  brain,  the  tricks  of 
his  thickened  tongue,  and  much  interrupted 
by  the  sarcastic  and  incredulous  comments  of 
the  policeman. 

"  He  —  he  —  he  is  a-stealin' !  He  —  he 's 
a-a-a-a-stealin'  star's  di'monds  —  right  now 
—  outer  dressin'-room  "  —  expounded  Pete 
eagerly. 

"  Mighty  likely,"  exclaimed  the  policeman 
in  irony. 

"  Gorham's  Theaytre,  —  got  in  by  back 
window,"  spluttered  Pete. 

"  I  believe  you ! "  The  policeman  gave  a 
gruff  laugh. 

Pete   soon  ceased  to  care  that  his  captor 


76  THE  CHAMPION 

seemed  to  regard  this  but  as  a  drunken  va- 
gary. Before  they  reached  the  lock-up  he 
was  growing  very  ill.  He  was  barely  con- 
scious of  being  thrust  into  a  tiny  darkened 
room  where  there  was  a  narrow  bunk.  He 
fell  upon  it,  and  there  he  lay  sleeping  the 
sleep  of  the  very  drunk  until  late  the  next 
day. 

He  woke  with  a  splitting  headache.  For  a 
time  he  was  conscious  of  nothing  but  this 
fact.  It  was  suddenly  aggravated  by  a  harsh, 
grating  noise.  The  key  was  turning  reluc- 
tantly in  the  lock.  He  frowned  sullenly  and 
looked  over  his  shoulder.  The  policeman 
who  had  arrested  him  was  standing  in  the 
doorway. 

Then  Pete  realized  where  he  was  and  recol- 
lected all  that  had  happened.  He  had  never 
imagined  that  he  could  be  so  disgraced.  Every- 
body whom  he  knew  would  find  it  out,  for  his 
name  would  be  printed  in  the  police  reports 
in  the  daily  papers,  —  in  Ned's  paper  too. 
Ned  himself  would  read  it.  He  remembered 
the  threats  he  had  made  against  Ned,  —  that 


THE  CHAMPION  77 

he  would  give  information  against  Ned  to 
the  police,  forsooth,  —  that  he  would  compass 
Ned's  arrest !  These  threats  were  not  ful- 
filled as  he  had  promised  himself.  It  would 
be  but  natural  that  Ned  should  gloat  over 
his  coarse,  foolish  degradation.  Because  he 
could  not  remain  sober  till  he  reached  the 
station  he  must  spend  the  night  in  the  lock-up 
while  Ned  was  enjoying  the  play.  "  An'  the 
gump  would  never  have  drempt  o'  gittin'  in 
the  theaytre  if  it  had  n't  a-been  fur  me,"  he 
thought. 

His  mortification  and  self-reproach  gave 
way  at  once  to  a  surly  jealousy  and  malignity, 
for  it  is  more  characteristic  of  such  a  boy  as 
Pete  Bateman,  when  forced  by  circumstances 
to  recognize  his  faults,  to  seek  to  blame  and 
injure  others  and  find  parallel  misdeeds  in 
their  conduct,  rather  than  to  repent  and  amend. 

"  A  cheatin'  scamp,  —  I  wisht  I  had  Ned 
'ere  now,"  he  thought  virulently. 

These  feelings  were  in  his  heart  when  the 
policeman  spoke. 

"  Boy,"  he  said  gravely,  "  now  that  ye  're 


78  THE  CHAMPION 

sorter  sober  I  want  ye  ter  tell  that  story  again 
that  ye  told  las'  night  about  that  burned 
theatre." 

Pete  started  up  in  his  bunk,  —  his  head- 
ache forgotten.  He  had  not  before  thought 
of  this  chance.  Although  Ned  could  not  be 
caught  in  the  active  perpetration  of  the  mis- 
deed, he  could  still  be  accused  of  having 
climbed  into  the  window  of  the  theatre  with 
nefarious  designs. 

"  Maybe  I  '11  make  it  lively  fur  him  yet/' 
Pete  reflected  with  satisfaction. 

Then  he  drawled  with  an  affectation  of  in- 
difference, "  I  never  said  nothin'  'bout  no 
burned  theaytre  sence  I  wuz  born." 

As  he  thus  corrected  the  policeman  his  broad 
face  was  ornamented  with  an  expression  of 
importance  and  extreme  rectitude.  His  nar- 
row eyes  were  downcast  as  if  in  reflection,  and 
his  manner  intimated  that  he  was  willing,  but 
did  not  seek  to  impart  information.  He  no- 
ticed, however,  that  a  man  in  citizen's  dress, 
a  thin,  genteel,  unobtrusive  person,  had  en- 
tered too,  and  closed  the  door,  but  he  did  not 


THE  CHAMPION  79 

see  that  upon  the  mention  of  the  burned  the- 
atre this  man  slyly  touched  with  the  toe  of 
his  boot  the  broad,  burly  foot  of  the  tall 
policeman,  as  an  admonition  not  to  put  that 
clumsy  member  into  Pete's  explanation. 

"  Well,  —  what  did  you  say,  then  ?  "  the 
policeman  asked. 

"  I  said  that  a  boy  had  clomb  inter  the 
back  winder  o'  Gorham's  Theaytre.  An'  I 
begged  an'  plead  with  him  ter  come  out, 
'cause  I  knowed  he  wuz  goin'  ter  steal  outer 
the  star's  dressin'-room." 

"  What  was  he  going  to  steal  ?  "  demanded 
the  man  in  citizen's  dress. 

Pete  hesitated.  He  was  not  quite  sure  as 
to  what  kind  of  portable  property  was  most 
likely  to  be  found  in  the  orbit  of  "  stars." 

"  Di'monds  wuz  what  he  had  set  his  head 
fur,"  he  replied  at  last,  quite  recklessly. 

He  wanted  to  disgrace  Ned  by  preferring 
a  criminal  charge  against  him.  He  did  not 
suppose  that  it  could  be  sustained,  for  he  did 
not  imagine  that  the  star  had  lost  anything. 
But  it  gave  the  minor  fraud  of  surreptitiously 


80  THE  CHAMPION 

entering  at  the  back  window  a  heinous  aspect, 
which  would  insure  to  Ned  some  unpleasant 
experiences  as  a  sequel  for  the  pleasure  which 
Pete's  suggestion  had  given  to  him,  and  which 
Pete  could  not  share.  He  was  acute  enough 
to  realize  that  if  he  merely  reported  Ned's  ad- 
venture and  success  in  seeing  the  play  with- 
out paying  his  way,  the  management  could 
scarcely  be  expected  to  take  the  trouble  neces- 
sary to  punish  this  offense,  already  a  matter 
of  the  past.  That  window  sash  would  be 
securely  closed  hereafter,  and  a  stricter  watch 
maintained.  He  noticed  with  satisfaction, 
therefore,  that  at  the  mention  of  the  word 
"  diamonds "  the  big  policeman  opened  his 
eyes  very  wide,  and  cast  a  significant  glance 
at  the  man  in  citizen's  dress,  as  who  should 
say,  "  I  told  you  so." 

The  other  man  seemed  to  refuse  to  respond 
to  the  policeman's  openly  expressed  excite- 
ment. 

"  Did  the  boy  have  any  accomplices  ?  "  he 
asked  coolly.  "  Was  he  helping  anybody,  — 
or  was  anybody  helping  him  ?  " 


THE  CHAMPION  81 

"  Not  as  I  knows  on,"  replied  Pete. 

There  was  so  deep  a  disappointment  in  the 
policeman's  honest  face  that  Pete  was  moved 
to  detail  the  story  all  over  again,  not  per- 
ceiving wherein  was  the  lack  so  evidently 
regretted. 

"  Whether  he  actially  stole  anything  or  not 
I  dunno,"  he  remarked  virtuously  in  conclu- 
sion ;  "  I  fairly  wrastled  in  prayer  with  him 
ter  git  him  ter  come  down  outer  that  window." 

"  And  how  are  we  to  know  that  you  did 
not  go  in  with  him  and  help  steal  ?  "  sud- 
denly asked  the  man  dressed  in  black. 

Pete  looked  up  with  a  galvanic  start.  He 
fairly  gasped.  Then  his  breath  and  logic  re- 
turned together. 

"  Because/'  he  cried  with  a  voice  singularly 
like  the  voice  of  innocence,  "  I  guv  the  alarm 
ter  the  police  straight  off.  I  wuz  locked  up 
'ere  an'  fas'  asleep  'fore  ten  o'clock." 

"  Fur  a  fac'."  The  policeman  nodded  re- 
gretfully. "  I  never  believed  a  word  that  he 
said,  the  kid  was  that  drunk.  Ye  never  seen 
a  kid  so  drunk." 


82  THE  CHAMPION 

Somehow  Pete  began  to  feel  a  trifle  proud 
of  his  achievement. 

"  Oh,  I  'm  a  gay  bird  when  I  git  started/' 
he  said  with  a  callow  chirp  that  was  meant 
for  a  laugh;  but  his  voice  was  as  weak  as 
his  stomach. 

The  man  in  citizen's  dress  was  visibly  im- 
pressed. He  no  longer  strove  to  pretend  in- 
difference. He  and  the  policeman  consulted 
earnestly,  but  in  a  very  low  and  guarded  tone 
for  a  few  moments.  Then  they  both  went 
out,  locking  the  door,  and  leaving  Pete  lying 
on  the  bed  and  holding  his  splitting  head  in 
both  his  hands.  His  pride  was  no  panacea 
for  these  pangs. 

The  policeman  came  back  presently,  hurried 
and  peremptory.  Pete  was  hustled  up.  Very 
dubious  and  slow  was  Pete.  His  reluctance 
was  noticed  by  his  captor. 

"  Shake  it  up,  boy,"  he  exclaimed  impa- 
tiently. "  Ye  ain't  goin'  in  fur  a  drunk  an' 
disorderly  now.  Ye 're  jus'  goin'  before  a 
magistrate  for  a  private  examination  'bout 
them  di'monds  an'  that  burned  theatre." 


THE  CHAMPION  83 

"Is  the  theaytre  burned?"  faltered  Pete, 
astounded.  «  Burned  ?  —  fur  a  fac'  ?  " 

"  Ter  the  ground.  But  stir  yer  stumps, 
boy.  I  can't  wait  here  all  day." 

It  never  occurred  to  Pete  until  he  was  in 
the  presence  of  the  magistrate  and  in  the  act 
of  swearing  to  the  statement  which  he  had 
abeady  made  to  the  policeman  that  the  affairs 
of  this  great  world  are  not  regulated  after  the 
haphazard  fashion  of  boys  and  their  puerile 
feuds  and  follies.  Pete  had  involved  him- 
self in  the  tremendous  machinery  of  the 
law,  and  in  its  inexorable  course  what  might 
not  befall  such  an  atom !  He  dared  not 
vary  a  word,  for  there  beside  him  stood  the 
policeman  and  the  man  in  citizen's  dress, 
whom  he  now  understood  to  be  a  detective. 
They  were  both  listening  attentively.  Any 
change,  any  faltering,  might  implicate  him 
in  he  knew  not  what  crimes  perpetrated  at 
the  theatre  last  night,  with  which  he  was  sure, 
too,  Ned  had  naught  to  do. 

Pete  roused  his  memory  to  repeat  the  story 
exactly  as  he  had  told  it  at  first.  He  had 


84  THE  CHAMPION 

never  before  exerted  so  great  a  strain  on  his 
faculties.  He  tried  to  gauge  the  impression 
it  produced,  and  he  observed  the  gravity  with 
which  the  subject  was  treated.  This  filled 
him  with  the  wildest  apprehensions.  He  had 
heretofore  thought  that  Ned  might  be  arrested 
and  might  have  to  appear  in  the  police  court, 
which  would  mortify  him  within  an  inch  of 
his  lif  e,  but  he  had  anticipated  nothing  more 
serious.  Now  he  understood  that  there  was 
an  investigation  on  foot,  instituted  by  the 
manager-owner  of  the  theatre,  the  manager 
and  actors  of  the  traveling  company,  the 
merchants  who  had  had  stocks  of  goods  in 
the  adjoining  stores,  and  others  who  had  sus- 
tained losses  by  the  fire,  all  of  whom  would 
unite  in  the  prosecution  of  the  criminals  when 
captured.  There  was  no  prophesying  what 
might  happen,  —  what  Ned  when  arrested 
would  say  and  perhaps  swear  to  against  him. 

Pete  was  a  moral  quicksand.  There  was 
nothing  stable  in  his  character.  Even  his 
duplicity  could  not  be  counted  on.  Although 
quaking  in  the  very  clutches  of  the  law,  he 


THE  CHAMPION  85 

was  revolving  in  his  mind  such  double-dealing 
as  should  protect  him  against  the  problematic 
lies  which  Ned  might  tell,  when  he  in  his  turn 
should  be  arrested.  For  none  is  so  quick  to 
suspect  others  of  falsehood  as  a  liar.  Pete 
made  his  scheme,  and  watched  events,  and 
waited. 

The  warrant  for  Ned's  arrest  was  already 
issued.  Pete  thought  the  men  were  talking 
in  a  strangely  unguarded  manner,  considering 
his  presence.  They  had  forgotten  him,  he 
concluded  sagely.  His  sly  eyes  glittered 
through  their  narrow  slits  as  he  reflected  how 
he  could  take  advantage  of  their  imprudence. 
Ned  was  not  to  be  arrested  immediately,  he 
understood.  The  detective  was  to  "  shadow  " 
him  in  the  hope  of  seeing  him  communicate 
with  some  of  the  gang  of  thieves  and  incen- 
diaries who  had  robbed  and  burned  the  thea- 
tre, for  they  naturally  concluded  that  he  was 
only  an  accomplice  of  others,  as  a  boy  alone 
could  hardly  have  plotted  and  executed  a 
crime  of  such  magnitude. 

"  Shadder    him   as  ye  may,   ye  '11  never 


86  THE  CHAMPION 

arrest  him.    I  '11  tip  him  the  wink  ter  skedad- 
dle outer  town/'  Pete  thought  triumphantly. 

For  he  was  ready  to  undo  all  he  had  done, 
since  his  malignity  was  likely  to  rebound  upon 
himself.  He  did  not  doubt  his  ability  to 
recall  the  irrevocable.  Pete  perhaps  likened 
himself  to  that  "  man  in  our  town  — 

Who  was  so  wondrous  wise, 
He  jumped  into  a  brier-bush 
And  scratched  out  both  his  eyes. 
And  when  he  found  his  eyes  were  out, 
With  all  his  might  and  main 
He  jumped  into  another  bush, 
And  scratched  them  in  again." 

Now  the  law  of  the  land  is  not  that  kind 
of  a  bush.  Pete,  metaphorically  speaking, 
was  still  stone  blind. 

He  had  a  vague  realization  of  this  fact 
when  the  policeman  said  agreeably,  "  Come, 
youngster,  we  've  got  to  go  back.  Ye  '11  get 
some  breakfast  then  —  if  ye  're  able  ter  eat  it." 

Pete  was  amazed  and  half  frightened. 
Then  he  straightened  himself  up  like  a  man. 

"  I  've  got  a  right  ter  my  trial  now,  —  like 
other  drunk  an'  disorderlies,"  he  protested. 
"  I  wanter  go  home." 


THE  CHAMPION  87 

"  Cheese  it !  "  the  policeman  succinctly 
admonished  him.  "  Ye  're  ter  be  held  fur  a 
witness  against  they  arrest  that  other  boy." 

"  But  they  ain't  got  no  right  ter  lock  me 
up  —  an'  me  jes'  a  witness,"  blustered  Pete. 

The  policeman  laughed  lazily,  languidly 
turning  his  quid  of  tobacco  between  his  teeth. 
"  A  boy  is  never  such  a  fool  as  when  he  un- 
dertakes ter  know  everything!  I've  seen  a 
magistrate  commit  a  slippery  witness  ter  jail 
in  default  o'  bond  fur  safe-keeping  against  a 
trial.  But  it 's  just  the  lock-up  ye  're  goin' 
ter,  —  you  ain  't  had  your  trial  yet,  —  an' 
't  ain't  fur  long.  Come  on.  Stir  yer  stumps." 

So  all  the  rest  of  that  day  Pete  lay  upon 
his  narrow  bunk,  bemoaning  his  luck  that  he 
had  ever  seen  Ned,  groaning  because  of  his 
aching  head  and  flimsy  stomach,  wondering 
what  had  really  happened  at  the  theatre,  what 
part  Ned  could  have  borne  in  it,  what  Ned 
would  say  when  confronted  with  his  false  and 
perjured  friend,  and  how  the  familiar  build- 
ing looked  lying  low  and  in  ruins. 

Dreary   enough,  to    be   sure,  —  with    the 


88  THE  CHAMPION 

charred  heaps  of  timber  and  bricks,  the 
smouldering  embers  and  ashes,  and  the  smoke 
still  curling  up  into  the  May  sunshine.  The 
east  wall,  although  tottering  and  with  great 
blackened  gaps,  still  stood.  Against  one  of 
the  frescoed  panels  and  close  to  the  ruins  of 
a  proscenium  box  was  a  gilded  mask  of  Folly 
in  alto-rilievo.  The  decorator  had  substituted 
for  the  more  usual  delineations  of  comedy 
and  tragedy  a  jester's  head  and  bauble  and, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  proscenium,  as  the 
antithesis  of  frivolity,  the  type  of  heroism,  a 
knight's  helmet  with  closed  visor  and  the 
point  of  a  lance.  This  mask  had  fallen  with 
the  west  wall,  but  the  smirched  face  of  Folly, 
surmounted  by  the  smoke-grimed  cap  and 
bells,  still  leered  fantastically  down  upon  the 
ruins.  It  was  not  without  sarcastic  sugges- 
tions. Where  so  much  of  worth  had  perished 
Folly  yet  remained.  It  was  a  prominent  ob- 
ject and  attracted  much  attention.  As  Ned, 
who  was  out  on  an  errand,  paused  among  a 
knot  of  idlers  and  shading  his  eyes  with  his 
hand  looked  up,  its  grimace  seemed  to  him 


THE  CHAMPION  89 

less  jocose  than  sinister.  He  thought  of  all 
that  he  and  it  had  witnessed  last  night. 
This  was  a  secret  between  them.  He  resolved 
that  he  would  be  as  dumb  as  the  dumb  image. 
Neither  had  made  a  sign  as  yet  —  save  —  all 
at  once  a  grotesque  fancy  crossed  him !  In 
the  flicker  of  the  sunshine  and  the  shimmer- 
ing undulations  of  the  smoke  the  face  looked 
at  him  —  and  winked ! 

He  knew  that  this  was  only  a  fancy,  but  it 
frightened  him.  Was  he  going  to  be  ill? 
he  asked  himself.  Was  he  losing  his  self- 
control,  his  hold  on  his  sharp  wits?  He 
turned  away  hastily.  He  felt  that  he  could 
not  maintain  his  self-possession  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  crowd  if  Folly  should  again  mys- 
teriously, fraternally,  sign  to  him. 

He  turned  away  so  very  hastily  that  he  ran 
against  a  man  —  a  thin,  genteel,  unobtrusive 
person  —  in  citizen's  dress,  who  was  standing 
just  behind  him.  As  Ned  made  a  rough  boy- 
ish gesture  of  apology  he  lifted  his  pale  agi- 
tated face.  The  man's  keen  gray  eyes  scanned 
it  closely. 


CHAPTER  V 

NED  gave  scant  heed  to  his  work  that  day, 
so  absorbed  was  he  in  reviewing  the  last 
night's  scenes,  in  considering  his  position,  and 
in  anxious  forebodings.  Now  and  then  he 
sought  to  comfort  himself  by  reflecting  that 
doubtless  the  worst  was  over,  —  only  Pete 
knew  that  he  had  been  to  the  theatre,  and  how 
could  Pete,  how  could  any  one,  imagine  that 
he  had  not  come  out  with  the  other  people 
behind  the  scenes — employees,  actors,  and  the 
many  various  supernumeraries — by  way  of  the 
side  door? 

After  a  time  he  became  alarmed  lest  his 
manner  betray  the  trouble  that  beset  him. 
Once  when  he  opened  the  door  of  one  of  the 
editorial  rooms  and  called  out  "  Copee !  "  to 
apprise  the  magnate  presiding  at  the  desk  that 
the  printers  were  waiting,  he  was  dismayed  to 
hear,  instead  of  his  wonted  peremptory  chirp, 


THE  CHAMPION  91 

such  a  strained,  shaup  cry  that  he  hardly  re- 
cognized his  own  voice. 

A  young  man,  trying  to  sustain  the  heavy 
draught  upon  the  imagination  which  writing 
a  book-notice  without  reading  the  book  must 
always  impose,  turned  from  his  work  with  a 
growl. 

"  That  confounded  boy's  throat  needs  oil- 
ing !  He  is  just  one  all-fired  creak ! "  he 
cried  irritably. 

The  little  rebuff  wounded  Ned  as  an  inten- 
tional cruelty  might  have  done.  His  anxiety 
had  made  him  sensitive  and  sore.  Generally 
he  felt  amply  able  to  take  care  of  himself,  and 
his  mental  attitude  toward  others  might  be 
described  in  the  simple  phrase,  "  Look  out !  " 
He  was  usually  ready  and  efficient  in  any 
work  entrusted  to  him,  but  to-day  he  was  awk- 
ward, under  foot,  out  of  time  and  place,  and 
very  inattentive  and  slow  to  understand.  His 
pallid  face  wore  a  hunted,  pleading  look,  of 
which  he  was  unconscious;  and  he  was  on  the 
point  of  bursting  into  tears  when  a  momen- 
tary notice  of  it  elicited  a  word  of  sympathy. 


92  THE  CHAMPION 

He  had  been  sent  to*  the  "  funny  man's  " 
desk  in  the  adjoining  room  to  hurry  him  up. 
The  "  funny  man/'  as  the  junior  compositors 
called  the  wit  of  the  staff,  did  not  mind  being 
hurried.  There  was  a  laugh  still  in  his  eyes  as 
his  pencil  traced  the  final  words.  His  face 
was  so  ruddy  as  to  accent  the  light  tint  of 
his  blond  hair  as  it  blowsed  over  his  forehead. 
He  was  a  robust  man  with  a  fine  digestion, 
and  the  sight  of  unhappiness  was  abhorrent  to 
him. 

"  Hungry  ?  "  he  asked  with  a  comical  in- 
tonation as  the  little  devil  waited. 

Ned's  face  mantled  with  a  sickly  smile,  — 
very  readily,  indeed,  for  the  "  funny  man's  " 
reputation  for  wit  was  so  well  established  that 
everybody  laughed  at  everything  he  said,  and 
he  did  not  have  to  crack  a  bona  fide  joke 
more  than  once  or  twice  a  year  to  sustain  it. 
Thus  he  became  chary  of  his  good  things. 

Ned's  face  was  more  pitiful  with  the  sickly 
smile  upon  it  than  in  anxious  gravity. 

The  good-natured  man's  finger  and  thumb 
were  inserted  in  the  pocket  of  his  waistcoat. 


THE  CHAMPION  93 

"  Methinks,"  he  said  with  mock  seriousness, 
"  methinks  the  goodly  goober  is  the  fruit  of 
the  earth  in  which  thy  soul  most  delighteth." 

He  twirled  a  silver  quarter  of  a  dollar 
across  the  desk,  and  the  devil  caught  it. 

"  With  best  wishes  for  your  digestion/'  said 
the  "  funny  man  "  politely. 

And  the  devil  laughed  again. 

Little  did  either  foresee  the  damage  that 
coin  was  to  do  —  even  though  diverted  from 
the  purchase  of  peanuts. 

For  the  devil  felt  the  need  of  a  change  of 
air. 

A  proofreader  and  his  copyholder,  engaged 
in  their  trying  exercises  hard  by,  had  shown 
some  impatience  of  this  puerile  dialogue  car- 
ried on  at  full  voice.  Being  silently  motioned 
out  by  the  "  funny  man  "  with  a  facetious  air 
of  mock  mystery,  Ned  had  nothing  to  do  for  a 
time  after  rendering  up  his  copy  in  the  com- 
posing-room, but  to  lean  on  the  sill  of  the 
high  window  in  the  hall  of  the  fifth  story  and 
await  orders. 

As  he  looked  out  he  saw  that  the  sun  was 


94  THE  CHAMPION 

tending  toward  the  west,  the  mansard  roofs  and 
domes  and  steeples  defined  sharply  against  the 
dazzling  cumulus  clouds.  The  city  stretched 
out  so  far  beneath  it  that  one  might  fancy  it 
must  come  to  the  ground  within  the  corporate 
limits.  Ned  loved  to  imagine  that  its  fiery 
cresset,  falling  and  falling,  was  caught  at  last 
on  the  distant  tower  of  the  water-works,  for  al- 
ways as  it  disappeared  behind  those  huge  tim- 
bers the  white  effulgence  of  the  electric  light 
burst  suddenly  forth  and  blazed  there,  the  Sun 
of  Science,  through  all  the  dark  midnights.  It 
was,  however,  too  early  as  yet  for  this  illusion. 
The  golden  lustre  of  the  afternoon  still  domi- 
nated the  lengthening  shadows ;  the  church 
spires  glinted ;  the  points  of  the  myriads  of 
lightning-rods  burned  as  if  tipped  with  living 
fire;  that  fat,  prosperous  exile,  the  English 
sparrow,  was  yet  up  and  about,  busy  in  the 
accomplishment  of  his  equivocal  mission  here ; 
the  cloud  of  smoke,  rollicking  out  of  the  chim- 
neys of  a  furniture  factory  over  the  way,  was 
white  and  gold  and  fawn-colored,  and  gleamed 
iridescent  against  the  azure  sky ;  the  shadow 


THE  CHAMPION  95 

of  this  ethereal  thing,  that  itself  had  no  sub- 
stance, chased  it  hilariously  down  the  street, 
leaving,  truant-like,  the  fires  and  the  toiling 
men  and  the  clanking  machinery  below. 

Perhaps  the  motion  roused  a  sort  of  emula- 
tion in  the  jaded  boy  ;  perhaps  only  the  wind 
suggested  the  idea  as  it  dipped  over  the  tall 
chimneys  and  softly  touched  his  cheek  with  a 
cinder,  and  tossed  his  slightly  curling  red  hair. 

"  I  ought  ter  go  to  the  Pawk  an'  git  some 
fresh  air,"  he  said.  "  That 's  jes'  what 's  the 
matter  with  me." 

He  fingered  the  coin  in  his  pocket.  It 
seemed  singularly  opportune  that  it  should 
have  been  given  to  him,  for  in  conscience  he 
could  not  spend  his  small  wages  on  car-fare, 
and  the  park  was  out  of  walking  distance  un- 
less he  had  plenty  of  time  at  his  disposal. 

In  that  interval  between  the  day's  work 
and  the  rush  which  precedes  going  to  press 
at  night  he  made  his  way  out,  and  was  soon 
whizzing  swiftly  along  in  the  cable  car  toward 
the  southern  terminus  of  the  road. 

He  sat  quite  undisturbed  for  a  time,  lulled 


96  THE    CHAMPION 

by  the  monotonous  motion,  finding  the  sun- 
shine warm  and  cheery,  and  all  forgetful  of 
the  fire  and  last  night's  scenes.  He  was  on 
the  point  of  falling  asleep  in  his  corner  when 
he  roused  himself  with  a  sudden  start.  Per- 
haps it  was  only  his  guilty  conscience  that 
kept  his  fears  alert,  or  perhaps  it  was  that 
odd,  mesmeric  sensation  which  one  experiences 
when  becoming  the  subject  of  a  steady,  stealthy 
gaze.  It  has  been  described  as  a  feeling  as  if 
there  were  a  cobweb  on  one's  cheek.  At  any 
rate,  Ned,  sitting  bolt  upright,  knew,  although 
he  did  not  see,  that  a  tall,  thin  man  on  the 
opposite  seat  had  just  been  keenly  staring  at 
him ;  but  now  this  stranger  was  gazing  pen- 
sively out  of  the  window. 

Somehow  his  face  seemed  singularly  famil- 
iar,—  yet  Ned  could  not  at  once  recollect 
having  seen  it  before.  Oddly  enough,  it 
brought  back  the  thought  of  last  night's  ter- 
rible scenes,  of  his  heavy,  felonious  secrets, 
the  dismal  black  walls  of  the  burned  theatre, 
the  distress  of  many  men  thrown  suddenly 
out  of  employment,  the  imagined  despair  of 


THE  CHAMPION  97 

the  ruined  owner.  Where  had  he  ever  seen 
this  man?  Ned  wondered.  Why  should  his 
face  be  thus  associated  with  these  suggestions  ? 
,  Suddenly  he  remembered  the  gilded  mask 
of  Folly,  the  silly  wink,  the  knowing  grimace  ! 
This  was  the  man  against  whom  he  had  run  as 
he  fled  from  his  own  foolish  fancy. 

It  seemed  strange  to  him  that  he  should 
meet  this  man  at  the  scene  of  the  fire,  and 
now  again  on  the  way  to  the  park ;  but  in  a 
moment  he  was  arguing  within  himself  that 
the  encounter  had  no  significance,  —  every 
idler  in  the  town  had  been  that  day  to  the 
burned  theatre,  and  the  park  was  of  course  a 
public  resort.  It  was  only  an  accident.  For 
what  could  the  man  have  to  do  with  him  ? 

"  I  'm  so  full  o'  secrets,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, "  that  I  feel  like  a  pack  o'  dynamite,  — 
ef  anybody  was  ter  tech  me  I  believe  I  'd 
bust !  " 

The  renewal  of  ah1  his  anxieties  had  de- 
stroyed the  pleasure  and  the  expected  benefits 
of  the  jaunt.  In  vain  for  Ned  the  trees,  in 
their  fresh  May  verdure,  leaned  over  the  broad 


98  THE  CHAMPION 

drives  and  walks,  while  the  young  birds  in 
the  branches  discussed  with  their  parents  the 
propriety  of  postponing  bed-time  for  half  an 
hour  longer.  All  the  children  were  still  up, 
they  argued,  —  and  that  was  very  true,  for 
the  park  swarmed  with  small  specimens  of 
humanity,  and  the  perennial  perambulator  was 
on  the  march.  In  vain  the  fountains  tossed 
up  their  spray  of  rainbows.  In  vain  refresh- 
ing sounds  came  from  the  lake,  where  water- 
fowl splashed  in  and  out  of  the  ripples,  and 
the  beat  of  oars  sent  a  skiff  skimming  about, 
and  a  swan,  resting  motionless  on  the  reflec- 
tion of  the  evening  sky,  suggested  the  starry 
Swan  whose  element  is  the  sky  itself. 

From  the  greensward  and  in  the  midst  of 
beds  of  coleus,  that  gleamed  like  huge  jewels 
of  garnet  or  topaz,  rose  a  great  pedestal  of 
polished  granite,  surmounted  by  a  statue  in 
bronze.  It  had  been  erected  in  honor  of  some 
great  man.  Ned  did  not  know  of  whom,  and 
he  had  never  cared  to  ask.  Now  he  looked 
at  it  speculatively  as  he  sat  down  on  a  bench 
opposite. 


THE  CHAMPION  99 

"  An'  what  did  he  ever  do  to  make  him 
great  ?  "  he  demanded  of  himself. 

The  answer  came  promptly  from  his  sharp 
common  sense,  "  Did  right !  " 

There  was  the  secret  of  greatness  in  a 
nutshell.  For  those  great  men  who  were 
not  good  as  well  are  certainly  not  honored  for 
that  wherein  they  failed.  Always  what  was 
done  right  predominated.  And  those  men  who 
do  right  in  the  small  details  of  the  simplest 
daily  life,  although  the  result  may  be  incon- 
spicuous, are  as  great  as  any  who  leave  their 
memory  in  bronze.  Ned  knew  this,  —  that 
a  printer's  devil  has  as  fine  an  opportunity 
for  heroism  as  he  "  who  taketh  a  city."  And 
he  had  been  ambitious  morally  as  well  as 
mentally. 

"  But  what  can  I  do  now  ?  "  he  thought. 
How  could  he  tell  his  story,  and  make  repara- 
tion, and  quiet  his  conscience  without  danger 
of  being  believed  the  accomplice  of  the  men 
who  had  stolen  the  money  and  the  star's  dia- 
monds, and  burned  the  beautiful  theatre,  and 
ruined  the  manager  for  their  revenge  and 


100  THE  CHAMPION 

wicked  malice  ?  If  he  should  confess  that  he 
had  choused  the  management  out  of  half  a 
dollar  he  impeached  his  own  honesty.  Could 
he  then  consistently  ask  to  be  believed  inno- 
cent of  other  crimes  ? 

Besides,  what  good  would  his  confession  do 
now  ?  The  rascals  were  no  doubt  far  enough 
away  by  this  time.  The  theatre  was  burned, 
the  money  and  diamonds  were  gone,  the  man- 
ager was  ruined ;  and  Ned  thought  that  un- 
less he  held  his  tongue  with  unparalleled  dis- 
cretion he  might  be  punished  for  the  crimes  of 
the  absconded  scamps. 

As  he  sat  there,  his  elbows  on  his  knees, 
his  hat  drawn  down,  his  face  pale  and  grave, 
his  hands  holding  his  throbbing  head,  the  fact 
that  he  was  troubled  in  his  mind  and  tortured 
by  his  conscience  was  very  evident  to  a  tall, 
quiet,  thin  man,  with  an  unobtrusive  manner 
and  a  pensive  aspect,  who  chanced  to  saunter 
by  more  than  once. 

Ned  did  not  notice  him,  however.  Only 
now  and  then  by  an  effort  he  tore  his  attention 
from  the  subject  that  so  absorbed  him,  and 


THE  CHAMPION  101 

upbraided  himself  for  wasting  his  opportunity 
for  the  beneficial  influences  of  a  change  of 
air,  of  scene,  of  thought  that  might  of  itself 
serve  to  solve  the  problems  which  racked  him. 
He  lifted  his  head  and  addressed  himself  to 
an  earnest  attempt  to  divert  his  mind.  It  was 
rare,  since  his  life  was  spent  in  vibration  be- 
tween the  business  portions  of  the  city  and  the 
tenement  district,  that  he  saw  the  equipages 
of  people  of  wealth  and  fashion,  which  now 
flashed  by  in  quick  succession.  He  noticed 
that  they  were  filled  with  the  silken  shimmer 
of  dainty  attire  and  bright  pink-and-white 
faces,  which  seemed  to  bloom  in  the  delicate 
shadow  of  the  quivering  lace  or  fringe  of  para- 
sols ;  these  parasols,  being  white  or  violet  or 
of  roseate  hue,  were  themselves  of  flower-like 
suggestion,  resembling  some  species  of  convol- 
vuli.  An  automobile  astonished  his  gaze  rather 
more  than  it  surprised  the  sophisticated  horses, 
but  it  was  to  these  animals  he  awarded  the 
palm  as  a  means  of  locomotion.  In  them  he 
felt  a  sort  of  proprietary  interest.  He  noted 
the  value  of  their  fine  form ;  he  appraised  their 


102  THE  CHAMPION 

glossy  coats ;  he  narrowed  his  eyes  to  discrimi- 
nate details  of  their  harness,  often  so  slight  as 
to  seem  barely  to  restrain  their  activities,  and 
hiding  no  point  of  beauty  or  grace.  His  in- 
fancy had  been  spent  in  a  horse-raising  coun- 
try, but  his  interest  was  really  apart  from 
memory,  and  only  stimulated  by  having  heard 
his  father's  enthusiastic  talk  of  notable  favor- 
ites which  he  had  seen  or  shod,  for  the  Scotch 
emigrant  had  first  settled  as  a  wheelwright 
and  blacksmith  in  New  Arcady,  Kentucky, 
and  there  he  had  remained  until  the  last  few 
years  of  his  life. 

The  sleek,  whirling  spokes,  as  they  caught 
the  light  and  glittered,  soon  dazzled  Ned's 
tired  eyes ;  the  gay  voices  that  floated  down 
to  him  seemed  all  out  of  tune  with  the  melan- 
choly conditions  of  his  struggling,  troubled 
existence.  Only  once  did  he  look  up  with 
keen  and  spontaneous  attention ;  a  tandem, 
a  thing  much  in  vogue  in  this  place,  of  fine 
blood  bays  went  by  like  the  wind,  —  so  fast 
indeed  that  he  hardly  recognized  the  manager 
and  his  elderly  skeleton-like  friend.  Ned  rose 


THE  CHAMPION  103 

from  his  seat  to  stare  after  them  in  doubt 
and  eagerness,  all  unmindful  that  a  man  on  a 
bench  in  the  shade  of  a  tree  opposite  had 
noted  his  excitement,  and  the  identity  of  the 
parties  who  had  elicited  it,  and  was  steadily 
gazing  at  him. 

Ned  did  not  seat  himself  again,  but  began 
to  wander  along  the  shores  of  the  lake. 
There  was  all  about  it  a  hedge  or  border  of 
the  Southern  plant  called  Yucca  gloriosa,  and 
its  bayonet-like  leaves  and  tall  shafts  with 
their  white  pendent  liliaceous  blossoms  were 
reflected  in  the  smooth  water,  all  as  motion- 
less as  if  the  whole  were  some  softly  vivid 
aquarelle.  Presently  a  skiff,  freighted  with 
children,  came  gliding  along  with  ripples 
about  its  prow  and  a  wake  of  foam  in  which 
the  reflections  were  lost  for  a  time,  the  snowy 
blossoms  only  gradually  sketched  anew  on 
the  surface  as  by  some  trembling,  tentative, 
unpracticed  brush.  The  detective,  now  stroll- 
ing along  the  broad  drive,  could  ill  keep  his 
eye  upon  the  boy  as  he  dawdled  among  the 
tall,  flowering  spikes ;  even  less  when  Ned 


104  THE  CHAMPION 

abruptly  came  to  a  stand-still  to  gaze  fixedly 
upon  the  countenance  of  a  swan,  waddling  in 
its  ungainly  style  up  the  green  bank  toward 
a  small,  daintily  befrilled,  rosy  child,  who 
with  her  nurse's  arm  protectively  about  her 
waist,  was  making  bold  to  offer  the  bird  a  bit 
of  cracker  in  disregard  of  the  mandatory  sign, 
"  Don't  feed  the  Swans." 

The  detective  found  it  yet  more  difficult  to 
dispose  of  himself  appropriately  when,  as  he 
still  incidentally  f ollowed  the  boy,  Ned  paused 
in  further  reaches  of  the  park  to  gaze  through 
a  high  fence,  which  was  constructed  in  a 
pretty,  rustic  fashion,  and  which  served  to 
keep  in  a  few  deer.  One  of  these  had  a  fawn, 
and  the  little  creature  was  beside  its  mother. 
The  boy  had  not  known  before  that  these  ani- 
mals are  dappled  with  white  in  early  youth, 
and  this  indisputable  presentment  of  the  fact 
brought  him  bolt  upright  against  the  fence, 
where  he  stared  in  the  interstices  while  both 
hands  grasped  the  structure. 

The  officer  could  not  follow  his  example, 
without  attracting  attention,  for  what  is  emi- 


THE  CHAMPION  105 

nently  sane  in  one  stage  of  human  develop- 
ment would  be  evidence  of  an  unbalanced 
mind  in  a  more  advanced  age  and  a  differ- 
ent station  of  life.  He  was  not,  however, 
willing  to  pass  on,  lest  he  lose  sight  of  the 
boy ;  and  something,  he  could  not  say  what, 
convinced  him  that  there  was  an  objective 
point  in  Ned's  wanderings,  albeit  he  himself, 
perhaps,  was  as  yet  unconscious  whither,  in 
his  undiscriminated  mental  processes,  his  steps 
were  tending.  The  officer  met  the  emergency 
by  pausing  in  the  middle  of  the  road  and 
taking  out  a  cigar.  The  wind  was  stirring 
anew,  and  thus  he  was  enabled  to  make  the 
business  of  deliberately  lighting  it  a  longer 
operation  than  was  really  necessary.  More 
than  one  match  flickered  and  was  extinguished 
by  the  freakish  gusts,  although  he  appeared 
to  shield  carefully  the  timorous  flame  with  his 
hand.  This  enabled  him  to  stand  still  until 
Ned  was  once  more  forging  ahead,  when  the 
genteel-looking  man  in  citizen's  dress  again 
began  to  stroll  along,  swinging  his  cane  and 
leisurely  puffing  his  cigar.  He  needed  its 


106  THE  CHAMPION 

solace,  for  a  sharp  nettling  irritation  was  be- 
ginning to  be  very  prominent  in  his  conscious- 
ness. "  I  'd  rather  shadow  a  grasshopper  than 
a  boy,"  he  said  to  himself,  for  there  seemed 
to  be  some  chance  to  restrain  the  mere  ac- 
tivities of  the  one,  and  he  could  not  be  sure 
what  the  vagaries  of  the  other  implied.  He 
prided  himself  on  his  experience.  He  had 
outwitted  noted  crooks  in  his  time.  He  felt 
fully  competent  to  divine  any  usual  motive  of 
flight  or  aggression  or  craft  or  wickedness, 
but  the  interest  of  standing  still  as  Ned  was 
now  doing  and  kicking  at  a  frog  as  it  hopped 
from  one  side  of  the  road  to  the  other  was 
something  he  could  not  appreciate.  It  seemed 
so  casual,  so  inconsistent  with  any  other  mo- 
tive than  mere  idle  diversion,  that  he  would 
have  been  minded  to  leave  Ned  in  this  choice 
batrachian  company  were  he  not  lured  on  and 
on  by  the  hope  of  finding  the  boy  making 
an  effort  to  communicate  with  the  older  and 
more  important  conspirators  in  the  crime. 
The  unique  difficulties  of  the  situation,  too, 
appealed  to  his  vanity  in  invention.  What 


THE  CHAMPION  107 

to  do  while  Ned  was  engaged  with  the  frog 
he  did  not,  for  one  moment,  know.  The  next, 
with  a  sentiment  of  discovery,  he  drew  out 
his  watch,  having  observed  a  dial  on  the 
tower  of  a  small  building  down  a  glade  so 
steep  that  the  clock  was  not  many  feet  higher 
than  his  head  as  he  stood  on  the  hillside ;  he 
affected  to  compare  the  timepieces  and  then 
to  reset  his  watch,  and  to  wind  it  carefully 
anew.  He  had  not  completed  this  ruse,  which 
he  was  exploiting  in  the  most  natural  manner 
possible,  when  Ned  suddenly  started  forward 
at  a  brisk  pace  and  evidently  with  a  definite 
goal  in  view. 

The  boy  had  all  at  once  recognized  the 
impulse  in  his  mind  to  which  he  had  been 
unconsciously  tending.  He  desired  counsel. 
His  nature  was  frank,  not  secretive.  He  had 
only  feared  to  divulge  his  knowledge  of  the 
crime  lest  a  worse  thing  befall  him,  and  he 
distrusted  the  people  he  knew,  all  more  or  less 
strangers  to  him  and  naturally  devoid  of  any 
special  interest  in  him  or  his  welfare.  When 
in  the  longing  to  open  his  heart  he  had 


108  THE  CHAMPION 

thought  of  his  mother,  the  impulse  was 
checked  by  the  doubt  of  her  capacity  to  cope 
with  the  situation.  She  was  even  more  igno- 
rant of  the  ways  of  this  world  than  he  him- 
self, he  argued,  for  he  knew  town  life,  while 
she,  suspiciously  restricting  her  intercourse 
even  with  her  nearest  neighbors,  was  hardly 
more  sophisticated  now  than  if  she  had  never 
left  her  rural  home  in  New  Arcady,  Ken- 
tucky, where  she  was  born.  Moreover  she 
would  scold,  —  alack,  for  poor  femininity ! 
She  would  ask  him  why  he  had  done  this,  and 
why  he  had  not  done  that,  —  all  irrevocable, 
all  a  part  of  the  immutable  past,  —  and  withal 
she  would  be  as  helpless  as  he  himself  to  take 
up  now  the  tangled  present  and  unravel  its 
tortuous  coils.  If  only  his  father  had  lived  ! 
And  so  Ned  suddenly  bethought  himself  of 
certain  of  his  father's  old  friends, — -friends  in 
the  sense  of  patrons  in  that  far-away  country 
home  he  had  left,  —  men  whose  horses  he  had 
shod,  whose  good  opinion  had  been  his  meat 
and  bread,  whose  relinquished  favor  he  had 
always  regretted,  whose  names  and  exploits 


THE  CHAMPION  109 

were  forever  on  his  lips  to  the  day  of  his 
death.  These  were  men  of  note  in  their  sec- 
tion, of  substance,  of  sophistication,  of  breed- 
ing. How  often  had  Ned  heard  his  father 
describe  their  genial  traits,  their  lordly  tra- 
ditions, and  liberal  ways  !  Doubtless  these 
portraits  of  the  rural  magnates  were  idealized 
under  the  softening  touch  of  regretful  memory 
and  the  roseate  haze  of  distance,  but  Ned  did 
not  appreciate  this.  He  only  realized  that 
they  were  of  such  station,  character,  and 
worldly  knowledge  as  to  render  them  above 
suspicion  and  eminently  capable  of  advising 
him  accurately  as  to  his  duty  and  danger 
in  the  matter.  He  thought  they  would  be- 
lieve his  story ;  they  would  befriend  him  and 
protect  him.  And  what  so  easy  as  to  seek 
their  advice  and  assistance !  There  in  that  deep 
cut  lay  the  railroad,  the  parallel  steel  bars 
even  now  jangling  faintly  with  the  vibratory 
resonance  of  a  far-off  train.  Should  he  leave 
at  midnight  after  his  work  was  over,  he  would 
be  in  that  bucolic  paradise  at  noon.  Only  a 
few  hours'  stay,  and  the  night  would  bring 


110  THE  CHAMPION 

him  back,  and  till  all  was  over  and  explained, 
his  mother  might  never  know  of  his  absence, 
being  pacified  with  the  subterfuge  of  a  press 
of  work  at  the  printing-ofB.ee. 

It  was  a  compact,  resolute  little  shadow, 
stepping  decisively  and  briskly  along,  that 
blurred  and  blotted  out  the  dapplings  of  the 
chestnut  and  maple  leaves,  all  fair  and  fresh 
and  whole,  which  were  imprinted  by  the  sun- 
shine in  their  graceful  entirety  on  the  smooth, 
broad,  sandy  stretch  that  led  to  the  little  sta- 
tion. The  determination,  though  so  suddenly 
taken,  was  definite  in  Ned's  mind,  and  as  he 
entered  the  building  and  walked  over  to  the 
ticket-seller's  window  he  had  not  a  doubt  as 
to  his  best  course  now.  The  man  that  the 
little  aperture  framed  was  blond,  clean-shaven, 
young,  with  a  steel  blue  eye  and  a  cardigan 
jacket  which  he  had  donned  to  save  the 
sleeves  of  the  natty  coat  hanging  on  a  hook 
beside  his  desk,  and  indeed  the  frayed  sleeves 
of  the  jacket  told  of  the  wear  and  tear  inci- 
dent to  driving  a  pen.  He  fixed  upon  Ned 
those  matter  of  course,  disconcerting  eyes 


THE  CHAMPION  111 

peculiar  to  the  human  automaton,  whose  busi- 
ness it  is  to  do  the  same  mechanical  thing  a 
thousand  times  a  day  and  to  repeat  the  same 
mechanical  words. 

Ned  demanded  the  price  of  a  ticket,  his 
little  grimy  paw  already  on  his  cheap  buck- 
skin wallet,  hid  away  among  less  valuable 
stowage  in  the  museum  of  his  pockets. 

"  To  New  Arcady,  Kentucky  ?  Twelve 
dollars !  "  said  the  man.  Ned  felt  his  hair 
rise,  —  more  than  a  month's  wages  !  And  was 
he  to  beg  or  beat  his  way  back  ?  The  pros- 
pect in  which  he  had  begun  to  rejoice  was 
dwindling,  fading,  vanishing  like  a  mirage  ! 
And  it  had  been  so  hopeful !  He  won- 
dered, when  he  thought  of  this,  might  he 
not  steal  a  ride  thither,  —  beat  his  way ! 
Nay,  —  had  he  not  yet  enough  of  beating 
his  way? 

"  Want  the  ticket  ?  Then  move  on,"  said 
the  ticket  agent  as  Ned  still  vaguely  clung 
to  the  window,  as  if  he  thus  kept  a  clutch  on 
his  ephemeral  hope.  He  shook  his  head,  un- 
clasped his  hand,  and  slipped  away.  "  What 


112  THE  CHAMPION 

can  I  do  for  you,  sir?"  the  agent  asked 
sharply  of  a  gentleman  who  was  now  stand- 
ing silently  at  the  window,  seeming  scarcely 
less  dazed  and  wool-gathering  than  Ned  had 
been.  "Oh,  time-table?"  The  automaton 
ungraciously  flung  it  out,  and  went  back  to 
his  writing  with  an  air  which  seemed  to  ask 
if  all  the  fools  who  wanted  to  go  nowhere,  and 
whom  he  wished  were  there,  were  coming  this 
day  to  block  up  his  window,  and  interrupt 
his  work,  and  impede  traffic. 

Ned  left  the  tall,  thin  gentleman  in  the  sta- 
tion building  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  time- 
table. But  he  did  not  long  remain  there. 
As  the  dejected  little  lad,  who  had  not  real- 
ized how  he  had  been  upborne  by  his  secret 
hope  of  help  and  counsel  from  his  father's 
old  friends  till  it  was  snatched  from  him, 
took  his  way  along  the  darkening  shadowy 
paths,  the  tall  man  was  once '  more  swiftly 
afoot,  and  although  he  passed  Ned  and 
walked  openly  in  advance  he  was  determined 
no  more  to  lose  trace  of  the  boy.  The  idea 
of  quitting  the  city,  which  the  inquiry  at  the 


THE  CHAMPION  113 

station  had  revealed,  precipitated  the  neces- 
sity of  prompt  action.  Very  little  more  time 
could  now  be  accorded  to  the  line  of  inves- 
tigation which  the  detective  was  pursuing, — 
the  hope  of  discovering  the  boy  in  commu- 
nication with  the  incendiaries.  It  would  be 
necessary  to  arrest  him  forthwith,  lest  he 
escape  from  the  town,  and  with  him  vanish 
the  only  clue  as  yet  developed  of  the  origin 
and  perpetrators  of  the  crime.  Nevertheless 
the  detective  determined  that  he  would  still 
seek  in  this  limited  interval  to  secure  some 
inkling,  some  vestige  of  a  theory,  that  might 
lead  to  the  unmasking  of  the  principals  in  this 
nefarious  affair.  Thus  he  was  acutely  con- 
scious of  the  patter  of  the  small  feet  as  they 
came  nimbly  along  behind  him ;  when  at  last 
they  began  to  lag  he  turned  from  the  road  and 
sat  down  on  a  bench  by  the  wayside,  and 
there  Ned  noticed  him  for  the  first  time  since 
they  had  been  in  the  park,  and  remembered 
when  and  where  he  had  before  seen  him.  Ned 
was  relieved  to  observe  as  he  passed  that  the 
man  seemed  to  take  no  heed  of  him.  He 


114          .  THE  CHAMPION 

did  not  even  look  up.  Perhaps  in  his  turn 
Ned  would  not  have  again  thought  of  the 
stranger,  so  frequently  encountered,  had  he 
not  turned  back  as  he  reached  the  big  iron 
gate  to  gaze  regretfully  over  the  great  green 
stretch  of  the  park.  The  man  was  just  rising 
from  the  bench  under  the  tree ;  he  stretched 
his  limbs  with  much  deliberation,  caught  up 
his  cane  and  came  slowly  down  the  broad  walk 
toward  the  gate.  He  too  was  about  to  leave 
the  place.  Ned  could  not  have  said  why,  but 
he  determined  that  he  would  not  ride  back 
to  town  in  the  same  car.  He  loitered.  There 
were  two  of  the  cable  double-cars  waiting  on 
the  track.  The  foremost  was  nearly  full  of 
passengers,  —  the  other  altogether  empty. 

"I'll  take  the  car  that  he  leaves,"  Ned 
said  to  himself.  Impressed  with  the  idea  that 
he  was  watched,  he  had  half  expected  that  the 
man  would  hesitate  and  wait  foij  him. 

To  his  surprise  the  stranger  strode  past 
without  so  much  as  a  glance  toward  him  and 
stepped  upon  the  platform  of  the  foremost  car. 

"  I  'm  the  biggest  fool  in  town  ! "  thought 


THE  CHAMPION  115 

Ned  in  scorn  for  his  terrors,  turning  never- 
theless toward  the  other  car. 

"Go  on !  "  said  the  grip-man  of  the  empty 
cable  car.  "  This  car  is  going  to  turn  in." 

Ned  went  on,  dismayed  by  the  possibility 
that  the  man  had  noticed  and  understood  this 
effort  to  avoid  him,  but  when  he  too  stepped 
upon  the  rear  platform  of  the  foremost  car 
and  the  cumbrous  vehicle  started  off,  he  saw 
that  the  man  had  bought  the  evening  paper 
and  was  already  deeply  absorbed  in  its  con- 
tents. 

"  He  ain't  even  thinking  about  me,"  Ned 
reflected,  much  reassured.  "  He  ain't  even 
looked  ter  see  if  I  took  the  kyar  or  no." 

The  boy  who  had  sold  the  paper  still  stood 
in  the  doorway.  He  was  a  squabby  little 
fellow  of  eight  or  ten,  with  carrot-tinted  hair, 
a  broad,  dirty,  freckled  face,  a  wide  mouth  with 
several  front  teeth  missing,  a  beguiling  blue 
eye,  and  a  persuasive  lisp,  although  his  voice 
was  keyed  to  a  blatant  whine.  He  scanned 
the  faces  of  the  men  in  the  car  with  a  preco- 
cious attention  and  business  tact  at  once  ludi- 


116  THE  CHAMPION 

crous  and  pathetic  as  he  recited  the  headlines 
of  the  news  columns.  There  was  something 
very  appealing  in  his  innocent  and  earnest 
eyes  and  long  list  of  enormities. 

"  All  about  the  bloody  murder  at  the 
wharf !  "  he  sang  out  suddenly. 

There  was  no  response.  The  car  whizzed 
on.  Nobody  talked.  There  was  not  even 
smoking  here,  although  from  the  "grip" 
visible  ahead,  the  wind  brought  back  the  fra- 
grance of  cigars. 

"  Executhion  at  the  Jail-yard !  Two  murder- 
erth  on  the  thame  gallowth  !  Dying  thpeech 
an'  confethion  !  —  Their  neckth  were  broke !  " 
he  added  suddenly,  the  last  clause  of  his  own 
motion  and  by  way  of  explanation. 

His  air  demanded,  who  could  resist  such 
fascinating  reading  as  that !  Still  there  was 
no  response.  That  belled  cat,  the  conductor, 
was  taking  the  fares,  and  ever  and  anon  the 
sharp  tones  of  his  bell-punch  jangled  on  the 
air. 

The  disappointed  little  boy  fetched  a  heavy 
sigh.  He  could  remain  on  the  car  fare-free 


THE  CHAMPION  117 

as  long  as  he  was  selling  or  seeking  to  sell 
his  papers,  but  if  merely  in  transit  he  must  pay 
like  other  people.  It  was  a  long  way  back 
to  the  business  portion  of  the  town  for  those 
fat,  short  legs,  which  had  already  been  abun- 
dantly exercised  to-day,  and  the  little  boy 
racked  his  brains  for  more  scareheads.  Then 
with  eternally  springing  hope  he  blurted  out : 

"  All  about  the  grave  robbery !  Goulth  still 
at  large." 

He  cocked  his  beguiling  eye  up  at  a  gray- 
bearded  gentleman  distinguished  by  a  mild, 
refined  aspect  and  a  clerical  coat. 

The  old  clergyman  looked  disgusted. 

The  boy  had  sold  but  one  paper  on  this 
trip,  and  the  car  was  already  approaching  the 
outskirts  of  the  town.  There  was  a  tremulo 
in  his  voice  which  in  any  other  person  of  his 
years,  less  hardy  and  self-reliant  than  a  news- 
boy, would  have  preceded  a  burst  of  tears. 
With  him  it  only  preceded  a  shrill  squawk  : 

"  Gorham's  theaytre  burned,  —  latest  de- 
tailth,  total  dethructhion !  " 

Ned  winced.     He  thought  of  the  fiery,  im- 


118  THE  CHAMPION 

pulsive  owner.  How  would  he  endure  the  loss, 
the  humbled  pride,  the  day  of  small  things  ! 
With  the  weight  of  the  recollection  of  his 
own  wrong-doing  Ned  felt  as  if  he  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  moral  ordeal  as  well  as  the 
material  disaster  —  although  he  had  no  con- 
cern with  either  —  which  the  manager  seemed 
destined  to  encounter. 

"  Heavy  Inthurance.  New  York  Com- 
panies/7 the  boy  sang  out  unexpectedly. 

Ned  started  as  suddenly  as  if  he  had  been 
shot. 

"  'Ere,  boy,"  he  said,  fishing  out  of  his 
pocket  the  change  of  the  silver  quarter  which 
the  "  funny  man  "  had  bestowed  upon  him. 
"  Gimme  that  paper." 

The  little  fat  boy  in  the  door  stared,  his 
mouth  open  in  astonishment  and  exhibiting 
the  vacant  spaces  where  his  teeth  ought  to  be. 
He  had  never  known  a  small  working  boy 
such  as  Edward  to  buy  a  daily  paper.  He 
thought  Ned  was  guying  him  until  he  took 
another  look  at  the  outstretched  hand  with 
the  proffered  nickel.  Then  he  gravely  handed 


THE  CHAMPION  119 

over  the  folded  journal.  The  elderly  gentle- 
man of  clerical  aspect  looked  down  at  Ned 
with  a  smile ;  he  saw  in  the  occurrence  only 
an  amusing  affectation  of  mannish  tastes  and 
habits.  It  had  a  far  graver  meaning  to  an- 
other person  in  the  car,  who  was  openly  star- 
ing at  Ned,  with  a  new  light  kindling  in  his 
eyes  and  an  expression  of  triumph  in  the  curl 
of  his  lip. 

Ned  was  cowering  back,  making  a  feint  of 
opening  the  paper,  and  yet  all  a-quiver  with 
the  realization  that  he  had  betrayed  himself. 
How  could  a  poor  boy,  such  as  he  was,  be 
supposed  to  take  an  interest  in  Gorham's  in- 
surance? He  feared  his  eagerness  upon  the 
mention  of  the  subject  might  intimate  to  the 
man  —  if  this  were  really  a  detective  who  had 
watched  and  followed  him — that  he  possessed 
some  knowledge  of  the  fire,  connected  with 
the  question  of  insurance.  It  might  even 
imply  the  truth,  —  arson  !  Only  he  would 
be  numbered  with  the  incendiaries.  He  had 
given  the  detective  the  clue,  —  Insurance  ! 

Ned  presently  made  an  effort  to  seem  to 


120  THE  CHAMPION 

read  the  paper,  —  he  could  not  pin  his  mind  to 
a  single  syllable.  It  was  scant  comfort  to  him 
now  —  since  he  had  given  himself  away  —  to 
know  that  the  First  Player  and  he  must  have 
overheard  only  apart  of  Gorham's  conversa- 
tion with  his  friend,  and  that  in  refusing  to 
renew  his  policy  in  the  Eising  Phcenix  In- 
surance Company  because  of  a  quarrel  with 
the  agent  he  had  at  once  placed  the  risk  else- 
where. Thus  the  burned  theatre  was  amply 
insured  in  other  companies,  and  Gorham's  loss 
would  be  slight,  comparatively  speaking,  by 
reason  of  the  disaster. 

The  lamp  had  been  lighted  in  the  car,  al- 
though it  was  not  yet  quite  dark.  Ned  could 
see  still  as  they  whizzed  along  on  some  con- 
siderable elevation  the  wide  spread  of  the  city 
stretching  in  dusky  undulations  against  the 
sky,  which  had  now  grown  gray,  portending 
rain.  Beyond  some  dip,  full  of  roofs,  mas- 
sive blocks  of  business  houses  rose,  frowning 
and  gloomy,  while  between  surged  smoke  and 
dust  in  fantastic,  haggard  clouds  that  sug- 
gested witches  and  demons  and  undreamed-of 


THE  CHAMPION  121 

powers  of  the  air.  The  mazes  of  the  tele- 
graph and  telephone  wires  now  and  then 
became  visible,  meshed  and  webbed  about  the 
town  as  if  it  were  caught  and  held  fast  in 
the  toils  of  some  big  scientific  spider.  Oh, 
it  was  a  dreary  evening,  —  long  did  Ned 
remember  it !  Even  the  most  commonplace 
things  had  strange  and  sinister  effects.  The 
air  was  pulsing  with  rhythmic  vibrations ;  the 
earth  throbbed  tumultuously ;  from  a  square 
railed  inclosure  in  the  middle  of  the  street 
a  column  of  black  smoke  gushed  suddenly 
forth  as  if  spewed  from  the  pits  of  hell,  and 
a  locomotive  was  shrieking  like  a  demon  as 
it  rushed  out  from  the  long  tunnel  beneath 
the  avenue  where  the  cable  car  rolled  heavily 
on  and  on,  its  gong  clamoring  at  every  inter- 
secting street,  and  now  and  again  in  a  tumult 
of  jarring  warning  lest  some  enterprising  vehi- 
cle usurp  the  track. 

Once  more  Ned  looked  at  the  detective. 
The  detective  was  looking  at  Ned.  For  that 
moment  they  understood  each  other. 

But  the  sharp  boy  of  a  town  is  no  match 


122  THE  CHAMPION 

for  the  sharp  man  of  a  town.  The  quiet  per- 
sonage in  plain  black  clothes  folded  up  his 
newspaper,  put  it  in  his  breast  pocket,  then 
turning  slightly  in  his  seat,  looked  out  of  the 
window  at  the  rows  of  decorous,  even  hand- 
some residences  which  they  were  now  passing. 
The  gilded  numbers  were  distinct  upon  the 
illuminated  transoms,  for  within  the  gas  was 
already  lighted.  He  seemed  to  scan  each  with 
interest,  as  if  he  sought  some  particular  num- 
ber. Presently  he  rose,  passed  to  the  platform, 
quietly  swung  himself  off,  and  walked  slowly 
and  meditatively  to  the  sidewalk. 

Ned  sat  amazed  as  the  progress  of  the  car 
soon  left  him  behind.  He  began  to  think 
that  he  had  been  mistaken  from  the  first,  — 
that  he  had  neither  been  watched  nor  fol- 
lowed. The  man  had  looked  attentively  at 
him  to  be  sure,  —  but  what  of  that?  The 
white-haired  gentleman  of  clerical  aspect  had 
also  looked  at  him  with  interest.  Ned  felt 
quite  certain  now  that  influenced  by  his  own 
secret  anxiety  he  had  magnified  the  danger, 
and  fancied  suspicion  in  every  casual  careless 


THE  CHAMPION  123 

stranger.  He  was  sure  that  he  had  encoun- 
tered no  detective. 

Ned  could  not  see  through  the  buildings  on 
either  hand.  He  could  not  know  that  the 
few  passers  along  a  side  street  were  staring  in 
mild  surprise  at  a  grave,  genteel-looking  man, 
dressed  in  black,  who  was  running  at  full 
speed  as  if  for  his  life.  When  this  man 
reached  a  broad  avenue  parallel  to  the  one 
which  he  had  quitted  he  did  not  slacken  his 
pace,  but  plunged  down  another  side  street, 
then  through  an  alley,  and  out  once  more 
upon  a  thoroughfare.  There  he  hailed  a  pass- 
ing car  and  sprang  upon  it.  He  had  calcu- 
lated time  and  distance  very  narrowly,  for  as 
the  car  made  a  broad  curve,  turning  down  a 
street  at  right  angles  with  the  avenue  it  had 
just  traversed,  it  came  upon  the  track  close 
behind  a  car  with  a  blue  light,  the  one  which 
he  had  left  not  five  minutes  earlier,  which  was 
still  rolling  down  the  street  in  a  straight  line. 

As  he  looked  through  the  window  at  the 
vehicle  in  advance  his  sharp  eyes  were  quick 
to  detect  the  slim  little  figure  of  the  printer's 


124  THE    CHAMPION 

devil  still  sitting  close  to  the  door,  and  he 
felt  that  whether  it  were  instinct  which  had 
warned  the  boy  or  inadvertence  on  his  own 
part  in  bringing  his  surveillance  too  close,  it 
had  been  cleverly  counteracted. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  detective  pondered  seriously  upon  all 
these  things  as  he  sat  there.  He  wondered 
that  as  yet  the  boy  should  have  done  nothing 
to  indicate  his  partners  in  a  crime  so  far  be- 
yond his  own  scope.  More  than  all,  he  won- 
dered how  the  little  printer's  devil  should 
know  or  care  anything  about  the  insurance 
of  the  theatre,  and  what  the  question  of  the 
insurance  had  to  do  with  his  surreptitious  en- 
trance and  the  theft  of  the  diamonds  and 
other  portable  valuables. 

The  fire  had  been  at  first  supposed  to  be  the 
result  of  accident  or  of  carelessness  on  the 
part  of  the  theatre's  employees,  until  Peter 
Bateman's  story  had  suggested  to  the  police 
the  possibility  that  theft  had  necessitated  that 
sequence  of  pillage,  which  is  incendiarism. 
Thus  the  detective  had  believed  that  the 
theatre  had  been  robbed  by  some  gang  of 


126  THE  CHAMPION 

thieves,  of  whom  Ned  was  but  the  humble 
tool,  and  then  fired  to  conceal  the  traces  of 
the  more  profitable  crime.  Now  this  conclu- 
sion was  shaken,  —  and  again  and  again  he 
asked  himself  in  perplexity  and  doubt  what 
the  question  of  the  insurance  could  have  had 
to  do  with  the  crime. 

The  more  he  thought  of  it  the  more  he  was 
convinced  that  this  was  to  be  a  singular  and 
difficult  case.  Properly  worked  up  it  would 
reflect  much  credit  on  the  officer  who  should 
finally  bring  it  to  a  successful  issue.  Once 
in  the  course  of  his  varied  speculations  on 
the  subject  he  came  very  close  indeed  to  the 
truth;  he  canvassed  the  possibility  that  the 
theatre  was  burned  from  motives  of  malice  or 
revenge,  for  Gorham  was  a  man  who  made 
and  kept  bitter  enemies.  But  the  fact  that 
any  fool  must  know  that  so  large  and  valu- 
able a  property  was  always  amply  insured 
would,'  he  thought,  prevent  antagonism  or 
reprisal  from  taking  that  form,  since  the  loss 
would  fall  most  heavily  upon  the  various  comr 
panies  who  had  assumed  the  risk,  —  vague, 


THE  CHAMPION  127 

unimagined  corporations,  beyond  the  scope  of 
malice  or  antagonism,  foreign  to  the  thought 
of  an  incendiary. 

Still  meditating  aimlessly  about  the  ques- 
tion of  insurance,  he  began  to  wonder  if  Gor- 
ham  were  not  actually  a  gainer  rather  than  a 
loser  by  the  fire.  The  theatre's  furnishings 
were  getting  shabby  and  out  of  style ;  much 
of  the  scenery  was  old  ;  the  site  had  become, 
by  reason  of  one  of  those  swift  expansions  of 
the  commercial  section  of  the  town,  so  com- 
mon in  our  growing  southwestern  cities,  more 
valuable  by  far  than  the  building  itself ;  the 
season  had  not  been  very  prosperous,  —  too 
much  legitimate  drama  to  cope  successfully 
with  spectacular  opposition.  The  smaller  thea- 
tres drew  the  crowds,  and  light  opera  was 
the  vogue.  More  than  all,  there  was  of  rec- 
ord a  rather  heavy  mortgage  on  the  struc- 
ture itself,  which  showed  that  the  owner  had 
needed  money  in  considerable  emergencies. 
Taken  all  in  ah1,  Gorham  was  doubtless  in 
better  financial  case  now,  a  richer  man  to-day 
than  yesterday. 


128  THE  CHAMPION 

All  at  once  the  detective  began  to  put  two 
and  two  methodically  together.  Gorham,  by 
reason  of  the  heavy  insurance,  had  profited 
by  the  burning  of  the  theatre.  The  boy,  who 
was  known  to  have  secretly  entered  the  house, 
presumably  for  the  purpose  of  theft,  had 
unwittingly  manifested  a  tumult  of  excited 
interest  upon  the  sheer  mention  of  the  insur- 
ance of  the  building,  —  a  matter  usually  abso- 
lutely alien  to  one  of  his  age,  his  class,  and 
his  ignorance ;  when  in  a  state  of  obviously 
alert  suspicion  he  became  aware  that  this 
incongruity  had  been  observed,  he  grew  so 
restive  under  surveillance,  evidently  recogniz- 
ing its  menace,  that  the  officer,  not  wishing  to 
make  an  arrest  prematurely,  was  obliged  to 
withdraw,  and  only  shadow  him  from  afar. 

Insurance  !  Had  the  boy  indeed  done  no- 
thing to  indicate  the  perpetrator  of  the  crime  ! 

The  car  was  now  passing  the  ruins  of  the 
theatre.  The  smoke,  still  curling  slowly  into 
the  air,  had  a  certain  luminous  quality,  reflected 
from  the  dying  embers.  Red  lanterns  here 
and  there  marked  the  lines  of  the  debris, 


THE  CHAMPION  129 

where  the  brick  walls  had  fallen  across  the 
sidewalks  and  street,  blocking  the  way,  and 
served  as  a  warning  to  the  benighted  passer-by. 
One  of  these  lanterns  cast  a  dull  flush  upon 
the  gilded  mask  of  Folly  high  on  the  frescoed 
wall,  still  grotesquely  leering  down  upon  the 
melancholy  scene.  As  the  lurid  glare  gradu- 
ally faded  in  the  distance,  the  detective,  his 
conclusion  reached  at  last,  silently  nodded 
his  head,  decisively,  aggressively. 

For  this  astute  person  had  come  to  believe 
that  Gorham  had  himself  fired  his  own  theatre  ! 

He  believed  the  boy,  entering  for  the  pur- 
pose of  theft  and"  concealed  among  the  scen- 
ery, had  accidentally  gained  a  knowledge  of 
the  manager's  crime,  —  else  why  should  a  lad 
of  his  years,  a  mere  child,  feel  an  interest  in 
so  remote  a  subject  as  the  details  of  the  in- 
surance of  the  building  ?  He  doubtless  went 
or  was  sent  there  with  the  object  of  stealing, 
nefarious  enough !  but  burning  the  build- 
ing could  work  an  advantage  to  no  one  but 
the  owner,  who  would  get  the  big  insurance 
money !  Thus  the  detective  deduced  that 


130  THE  CHAMPION 

Gorham  himself  had  committed  the  crime 
which  in  double-dealing,  joining  with  the 
"star/'  the  manager  of  the  theatrical  com- 
pany, and  the  insurance  companies,  he  now 
pretended  to  cause  to  be  investigated  by  the 
police. 

The  detective's  anxiety  to  discover  the 
printer's  devil  in  seeking  to  communicate 
with  some  criminal,  some  noted  "  crook,"  on 
the  subject  of  the  theatre,  changed  to  an  alert 
expectation.  He  believed  the  boy  would  seek 
to  communicate  with  Gorham,  —  he  would 
make  use  of  his  knowledge  of  the  crime  in 
an  effort  to  extort  money. 

When  Ned  at  last  left  the  car  the  detective 
had  become  so  cautious  as  to  follow  only  at 
a  very  considerable  distance,  so  extra-hazard- 
ous had  his  surveillance  become,  so  alertly 
suspicious  seemed  the  boy.  Down  and  down 
Ned  took  his  way,  through  streets  that  grew 
more  dirty  and  dingily  lighted  as  he  wept. 
The  tall,  gloomy  tenement  houses  on  either 
hand,  for  miles,  it  seemed,  apparently  leaned 
toward  each  other  across  the  way,  to  limit 


THE  CHAMPION  131 

the  sky  and  exclude  the  air  from  the  sad  pur- 
lieus below.  Some  women  were  quarreling 
in  shrill,  shrewish  accents  on  a  corner ;  one 
reeled  as  she  walked,  and  hard  by  there  was  a 
saloon  that  exuded  a  dim  glow  of  untrimmed 
kerosene  lamps,  a  pervasive  odor  of  beer  and 
whiskey,  and  a  series  of  dirty,  frowzy  custom- 
ers of  both  sexes  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and 
night.  It  had  a  more  remote  trade,  too ;  now 
and  then  a  child,  tangle-haired,  begrimed,  un- 
naturally sharp  of  eye  and  tongue,  yet  still 
suggestive  of  that  universal  promise  of  youth, 
—  dim,  dim,  not  a  possibility,  hardly  a  dream, 
only  intimating  a  higher  purpose  in  its  crea- 
tion, —  scuttled  out  with  a  pitcher  of  beer, 
bearing  it  carefully  away  to  some  drink-sod- 
den wretch  in  a  forlorn  attic.  The  clouds 
had  thickened  ;  they  seemed  to  Ned  to-night, 
though  never  before,  to  resemble  the  clouds 
of  sin  and  sorrow  and  suffering  that  hang 
over  the  homes  of  the  wicked  and  weak,  and 
to  prefigure  the  bursting  of  the  vials  of  wrath. 
And  search  the  sky  as  he  would,  he  could  dis- 
cern no  star. 


132  THE  CHAMPION 

When  he  had  toiled  up  four  flights  of  a 
dark,  rickety  staircase,  and  opened  a  door  in 
the  rear  of  the  mansard  roof,  the  sudden  con- 
trast of  the  scene  within  smote  upon  his  quiv- 
ering nerves,  his  quickened  perceptions,  as  if 
he  had  never  before  beheld  it.  The  floor  was 
scoured  white,  and  throughout  the  atmosphere 
was  the  pungent  aroma  of  coarse  yellow  soap. 
The  clean  patchwork  quilts  on  the  two  beds 
were  as  gay  with  many  colors  as  Joseph's 
coat.  The  monkey-stove  sought  to  atone  for 
its  many  misdeeds  emblazoned  on  the  smoke- 
blackened  walls,  and  glowed  to  a  scarlet  hue, 
and  upon  it  simmered  the  savory  dish  of 
onion  stew  that  he  loved.  His  sickly,  puny 
little  sister,  seated  on  a  home-woven  rug  in 
the  centre  of  the  floor,  found  plenteous  enter- 
tainment in  banging  a  tin  cup  with  an  iron 
spoon,  while  her  mother  was  busied  in  the 
task  of  wrapping  hundreds  of  bonbons  in 
gayly  fringed  papers,  for  this  work  for  the 
candy  factory  could  be  done  at  home,  and  the 
care  of  the  child  prevented  her  from  going 
out  to  secure  better  paid  work  elsewhere. 


THE  CHAMPION  133 

"  That  child  is  the  bane  of  yer  life,"  her 
neighbors  sometimes  said,  with  a  species  of 
antagonism  toward  the  hindrance,  born,  it 
seemed,  only  to  be  a  clog  and  a  dead-weight. 
"  Ye  had  better  sen'  it  to  the  'sylum,  or  some- 
wher's,  an'  git  some  use  of  yerself." 

Ned's  mother  returned  no  comment,  no 
reply,  to  these  suggestions;  sometimes  it 
seemed  as  if  she  had  some  impediment  in  her 
speech,  so  silent  she  had  become,  so  taciturn 
with  her  neighbors.  The  fact  that  she  was 
country-bred  was  shown  abundantly  in  her 
stolid  uncommunicativeness,  her  vague  terror 
of  all  the  ways  of  the  great  city  outside  of 
these  four  walls,  her  old-fashioned  code  of 
manners  and  morals,  and  the  painfully  wrought 
and  maintained  cleanliness  of  her  surround- 
ings. No  slight  task  it  was,  to  be  sure,  to 
"  pack  "  the  water  which  plentifully  drenched 
floors,  tables,  pots,  kettles,  windows,  up  four 
flights  of  steep  stairs  from  the  hydrant  in  the 
yard !  Small  wonder  that  poverty  and  dirt 
are  so  often  concomitant.  It  had  been  an 
evil  day  for  her  and  her  simple,  untutored 


134  THE  CHAMPION 

husband  when  some  vague,  distorted  ambition 
had  moved  him  to  despise  the  small  havings 
of  a  country-side  blacksmith  and  seek  to  be- 
come a  "  horse-shoer  "  among  the  often  myth- 
ical advantages  of  a  large  town.  He  had  lit- 
tle of  the  canny  thrift  characteristic  of  his 
Scotch  nationality.  He  was  an  open-handed, 
jovial,  florid,  red-haired,  fiery-tempered  man, 
—  over  sanguine  and  credulous.  The  many 
deceptions  practiced  upon  greenhorns,  the 
greater  expense  of  living,  the  fierce  competi- 
tion of  an  already  crowded  trade,  baffled  and 
bewildered  the  sturdy  fellow.  He  worked  as 
long  as  he  had  work,  but  when  he  was  idle  he 
began  to  drink  more  and  more,  and  perhaps 
at  last  it  was  no  great  misfortune  to  his  family 
when  one  of  the  pestilences  which  decimate 
the  tenement  region  laid  this  once  fair  stalk 
of  wheat  low  with  the  "  cheat."  He  left  his 
wife,  Ned,  and  the  puny,  sickly  little  girl  as 
remote,  as  alien  from  their  old,  country  home, 
as  if  that  haven  of  humble,  hearty  comfort 
were  in  a  foreign  planet.  They  lived  as  best 
they  might  on  the  boy's  wages  and  the  few 


THE  CHAMPION  135 

jobs  of  coarse  washing  that  she  could  get  to 
do  at  home.  It  was  the  pride  of  both  mother 
and  son  that  they  had  maintained  this  preca- 
rious existence  on  these  slender  means  now 
for  more  than  a  year,  and  in  this  fact  they 
saw  a  glad  augury  for  the  future. 

Her  face  always  wore,  however,  an  appre- 
hensive, appealing  expression,  although  Ned 
remembered  when  it  had  been  otherwise.  As 
she  turned  it  toward  him  now  all  her  persever- 
ance, her  self-sacrifice,  her  deprivations,  her 
honest,  persistent  uprightness,  her  mingled 
fears  and  faith  in  some  fair  future  for  him 
touched  his  heart  with  a  potent  force.  He 
cast  but  one  glance  at  her  and  burst  instantly 
into  tears. 

"  What  ails  ye,  sonny  ?  "  she  asked  sooth- 
ingly, and  with  an  intonation  that  promised 
partisanship,  earnest  and  loving;  for  some- 
times he  came  home  with  great  griefs  of  edi- 
torial tyranny,  or  fault-finding  and  injustice 
in  the  composing-rooms,  or  the  guying  of 
some  facetiously  disposed  junior  reporter,  or 
in  a  revolt  of  indignation  against  the  pressure 


136  THE  CHAMPION 

of  new  and  severe  regulations  —  when  his 
partisan  mother  would  straightway  vilify  his 
enemies  (for  the  nonce),  till  he  would  be  sorry 
for  them  and  rouse  himself  to  protest  and  re- 
monstrate in  their  defense. 

But  now  Ned  shook  his  head  and  would 
say  nothing. 

His  silence  evidently  alarmed  her.  She 
perceived  that  his  trouble  was  far  more  seri- 
ous than  the  usual  misadventures  in  the  day's 
work.  Once  or  twice  she  urged  him  to  speak, 
but  in  vain.  She  looked  at  him  apprehen- 
sively for  a  moment  longer,  and  not  without 
anger.  Then  as  if  appreciating  the  futility 
of  remonstrance,  she  turned  away  to  the  table, 
took  up  a  flaunting  red  and  gilded  paper,  and 
with  mechanical  swiftness  and  dexterity  twisted 
the  fringed  ends. 

"  Boys  are  hard  to  know  how  to  deal  with," 
she  remarked.  "  They  can't  Tarn  no  sense, 
and  they  ain't  got  no  instinct.  A  boy  ought 
ter  know  by  nature  that  he  hev  got  two 
friends  what  can't  wish  him  nothing  but  well. 
One  is  his  God  in  Heaven,  and  the  t'other  is 


THE  CHAMPION  137 

his  mother  on  earth,  —  and  them  is  the  ones 
he  trusts  the  least  an'  trusts  the  last." 

"  The  harm  is  done  now,"  sobbed  Ned. 

"  Undo  it,  then,"  said  his  mother  sternly. 

Ned  walked  to  the  window,  and  heavily 
leaning  against  the  sill,  looked  out  at  the 
gloomy  night.  When  he  had  first  lost  the 
fear  that  he  had  been  "  spotted  "  by  the  de- 
tective he  had  felt  almost  glad  of  the  discov- 
ery that  the  insurance  companies  only  would 
sustain  the  loss  by  the  fire,  for  these,  being 
corporations  vague  to  his  mind,  impersonal,  of 
presumably  illimitable  wealth,  did  not  appeal 
very  strongly  to  his  limited  experience  for 
sympathy.  He  was  glad  that  the  manager 
whom  he  had  defrauded  would  not  suffer 
from  the  villainy  he  had  witnessed.  This 
feeling  had  served  in  some  sort  to  blunt  his 
conscience  and  numb  his  sense  of  his  own 
wrongdoing.  Now,  however,  among  the  fa- 
miliar surroundings  of  home,  —  sacred  as  an 
altar,  a  temple,  even  though  only  an  attic  in 
the  tenement  district,  —  he  regained  his  nor- 
mal poise ;  he  realized  how  his  mother  would 


138  THE  CHAMPION 

regard  it.  He  winced  from  the  sheer  recol- 
lection of  the  old-fashioned  phrase  with  which 
she  was  wont  to  characterize  such  shifty  deal- 
ings. "  Stealing  an'  nothin'  shorter  !  "  It 
was  indeed  theft.  She  would  think  that  he 
had  stolen  the  price  of  admission  to  the  thea- 
tre as  absolutely  as  if  he  had  picked  Manager 
Gorham's  pocket.  What  did  it  matter  to  him 
whose  was  the  loss  in  the  burning  of  the  beau- 
tiful theatre!  The  fact  remained.  He  was 
a  thief. 

The  aspect  of  dishonesty  had  never  been  so 
odious  to  him  as  now.  Hitherto  he  had  car- 
ried his  mother's  teaching  in  one  hand  and 
his  trusty  conscience  in  the  other,  and  with  a 
fair  accord  between  them  he  had  gone  tri- 
umphantly through  the  multiform  temptations 
which  assail  a  small  boy  struggling  for  a  liv- 
ing amidst  the  turmoils  of  a  great  town.  Now 
it  was  all  over.  He  could  never  again  feel 
aught  but  contempt  for  himself.  In  his 
poignant  pang  of  despair  he  had  a  strong  im- 
pulse to  confess  to  his  mother.  He  glanced 
over  his  shoulder  at  her,  but  she  had  gone 


THE  CHAMPION  139 

back  wearily  but  unfalteringly  to  her  work, 
and  he  relapsed  once  more  to  staring  dismally 
out  over  the  roofs  about  him,  mostly  on  a 
lower  level  than  the  windows  of  this  "  sky 
parlor." 

Scores  of  chimney-pots  loomed  up  close  at 
hand.  Despite  their  smoky,  gloomy,  unsocial 
aspect,  this  insensate  crew  served  in  some  sort 
as  company  for  the  boy.  They  were  always 
there,  —  they  saw  him  depart  in  the  morning, 
they  waited  for  him  to  come  home  at  night. 
They  had  stories  to  tell  him.  He  loved  a 
vague,  fanciful  sense  of  community  interests 
with  the  unknown  firesides  below  them.  He 
pictured  to  himself  the  families  clustered  about 
these  invisible  hearths.  Every  fantastic  wreath 
of  soot-bespangled  smoke  curling  out  from 
these  grimy  tubes  indited  for  him  an  idyl  on 
the  fair  page  of  the  sky.  What  tragic,  or 
poetic,  or  romantic  episodes  were  kindled  with 
the  homely  fires  cooking  the  supper  —  and 
ended  in  smoke ! 

When  winds  were  abroad  and  went  rioting 
about  the  chimney-pots,  whistling  and  singing, 


140  THE  CHAMPION 

the  smoke  affected  too  a  jovial  mien,  and 
came  rushing  and  rollicking  up  to  join  its 
boisterous  playfellows,  who  now  would  sweep 
vast  clouds  of  it  aside  in  tenuous  dispersal  in 
the  air,  and  now  would  roll  up  great  curling 
lengths  of  it  like  so  many  yards  of  dusky 
ribbon,  tucking  it  back  into  the  chimney- 
pots whence  it  had  sought  to  issue  forth. 
What  roaring  farces  in  the  house-top  regions 
these  wild  days !  What  sense  of  hilarity,  of 
joyous  motion,  of  jocund  voice  !  "  Ha  !  ha  ! 
ha!"  said  the  winds.  "What  a  high  old 
time ! " 

Whenever  the  moon  was  up,  weird,  dark 
shadows  would  haunt  the  chimney-pots,  and 
go  skulking  slyly  over  the  roofs,  and  Ned's 
imagination  would  conjure  into  the  air  beings 
far  more  strange  than  his  simple  mythical 
friends  whom  he  had  placed  in  order  about 
their  unknown  hearths  below.  If  it  were  in 
the  glad  summertime  these  gruesome  shapes 
would  so  far  abandon  their  port  of  terror  as 
to  dance  with  the  misty  images  of  the  smoke 
to  the  music  of  a  brass  band,  which  played  in 


THE  CHAMPION  141 

a  city  square,  distant  indeed,  but  not  alto- 
gether out  of  earshot.  In  the  winter  the  snow- 
covered  roofs  reflected  the  silvery  lunar  sheen 
and  shimmered.  The  chimney-pots  were  often 
begirt  with  zones  of  icicles.  Grotesque  gar- 
goyles of  frozen  slush  and  sleet  blocked  the 
water-spouts  and  hung  far  over  the  eaves.  A 
star  with  a  chill  crystalline  palpitation  would 
look  down.  Far,  far  away  the  deep,  mellow 
tones  of  the  cathedral  bells  would  ring  out  the 
Angelus.  And  winter  or  summer  he  loved  it 
all,  for  his  heart  was  light,  his  conscience 
clear,  and  this  was  Home  ! 

But  now  the  atmosphere  was  murky ;  the 
clouds  were  low;  the  swift  gleams  of  light- 
ning were  beginning  to  quiver  among  the 
chimney-pots,  that  seemed  in  the  uncertain 
fluctuations  to  move,  to  wince,  to  start  aside, 
to  draw  back  as  in  fright.  Suddenly  resonant 
torrents  were  beating  upon  the  roof ;  the  tin 
gutters  clamored ;  the  mutterings  of  thunder 
swelled  to  sonorous  emphasis. 

Ned  felt  all  at  once  refreshed,  elated,  — 
a  sense  often  induced  by  a  rain-fall  long 


142  THE  CHAMPION 

delayed.  Perhaps  the  interval  of  rest  had 
calmed  his  nerves,  and  had  restored  his  jaded 
faculties.  A  new  idea  suddenly  sprang  into 
his  mind. 

He  did  not  hesitate ;  he  turned  briskly, 
got  down  from  a  shelf  an  ink-bottle,  —  nearly 
empty  from  evaporation  rather  than  exhausted 
by  service,  —  tore  a  blank  page  from  an  old 
copy-book  which  he  had  used  in  his  short  at- 
tendance at  the  public  school,  and  proceeded 
at  once  to  indite  some  straggling  charac- 
ters. He  had  addressed  an  envelope  before 
he  looked  up  at  his  mother,  who  was  silently 
watching  him. 

"  I  want  some  money  out  o?  my  wages,"  he 
said  stoutly,  assuming  an  air  as  of  a  moneyed 
man  who  demands  what  is  his  own  by  rights. 
Then,  "  Tain't  fur  no  harm,"  he  added  re- 
assuringly. 

He  had  feared  her  questions,  which  he  was 
resolved  he  would  not  answer.  Without  a 
word,  however,  she  pointed  at  the  drawer  of 
the  table.  If  he  would  not  voluntarily  give 
her  his  confidence  she  would  not  attempt  to 


THE  CHAMPION  143 

coerce  it.  She  did  not  even  ask  nor  look 
to  see  what  sum  he  took. 

The  envelope  was  sealed,  and  presently 
Ned  was  flying  along  through  street  after 
street  with  the  rain  pelting  in  his  face  and 
the  wind  bantering  him  for  the  loan  of  his 
hat.  He  did  not  care !  His  heart  was  so 
much  lighter !  He  saw  from  afar  the  great 
red  and  blue  bottles  in  the  illuminated  win- 
dows of  a  drug-store,  and  here  he  paused  and 
went  within  and  with  much  circumspection 
bought  a  postage-stamp ;  then  he  plunged  out 
in  the  rain  again,  making  straight  for  a  certain 
box  under  a  gleaming  lamp  in  the  distance 
that  sent  its  quivering  shafts  of  light  far 
through  the  gloom. 

He  brought  up  under  the  lamp-post,  agi- 
tated, anxious,  but  still  unswerving.  He 
looked  about  him  expectantly,  watchfully,  — 
it  might  have  seemed  even  fearfully  to  one 
noting  his  attitude  from  a  distance.  But  he 
had  no  longer  any  fear.  The  moment  was 
fraught  with  peculiar  importance  to  him.  He 
had  posted  many  letters  for  employers,  but 


144  THE  CHAMPION 

never  one  for  himself,  and  never  before  nor 
after  one  like  this.  A  man  beyond  the  fur- 
thest limits  of  the  lamp's  aureola  of  misty 
light  had  paused  too,  breathing  hard.  He 
was  not  used  to  running  so  far  nor  running  so 
fast.  He  thought  the  boy's  look  and  attitude 
very  suspicious,  as  Ned,  realizing  the  supreme 
significance  of  the  moment  and  the  value  of 
this  letter  to  him,  slowly  and  solemnly  dropped 
it  into  the  box,  and  then  swiftly  scudded  off 
down  the  street. 

When  the  letter-carrier  next  came  to  this 
box  the  detective  was  lurking  in  its  vicinity. 
He  whispered  a  request  and  mentioned  a  name, 
but  the  postman  shook  his  head  with  all  the 
dignity  of  one  invested  with  a  little  brief  au- 
thority, and  it  seemed  that  "  the  regulations  " 
were  the  only  words  his  tongue  would  deign  to 
frame.  "Why,  what  harm  can  it  do  to  let 
me  see  the  outside  of  the  letters?"  insisted 
the  detective  plausibly.  The  postman's  head 
wagged  to  and  fro  more  slowly  under  the  well 
applied  force  of  argument. 

"The  handwriting  on  the  outside  of    the 


THE  CHAMPION  145 

envelope  alone  will  tell  me  all  that  I  want  to 
know ;  it  is  a  very  important  crime  which  I 
am  investigating." 

The  postman's  head  ceased  to  vibrate. 
Yet  he  was  slow  and  thoughtful  as  he  laid 
his  hand  on  the  box.  As  the  detective  waited 
eagerly  for  it  to  be  opened  he  looked  rather 
like  a  fox,  —  so  keen,  and  so  crafty,  and  so 
alertly  expectant.  The  letters,  as  they  were 
slowly  shuffled  before  his  eyes,  he  perceived 
belonged  unmistakably  to  commercial  corre- 
spondence,—  neat,  compact,  evidently  the 
work  of  practiced  scribes,  —  except  only  one ; 
this  was  blurred  and  smirched,  with  a  crum- 
pled envelope  and  a  wildly  diagonal  address, 
which  moreover  was  grievously  misspelled. 
He  stared  with  breathless  interest  and  curios- 
ity at  the  scrawling  characters :  — 

Manger  A.  J.  Gonn 

Manger  Gorm's  Theter. 

In  less  than  half  an  hour  the  detective  was 
in  close  conference  with  his  chief.  "  That  is 
all,"  he  said,  con'cluding  his  account  of  these 


146  THE    CHAMPION 

incidents.  "I  think  I  have  caught  the  boy 
communicating  with  the  criminal.  The  crim- 
inal is  the  owner  himself,  —  and  that  letter 
in  my  opinion  is  the  boy's  attempt  to  extort 
money  from  Gorham  by  threatening  to  blab 
all  he  knows." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THERE  was  a  strange  procession  in  the 
streets  early  in  the  morning.  Its  line  of 
march  lay  through  the  principal  business 
quarters  of  the  city,  and  everywhere  its  ad- 
vent was  greeted  with  wild  hurrahs.  In  fact 
it  did  much  of  its  own  cheering.  The  en- 
thusiasm for  itself  which  pervaded  its  ranks 
was  of  a  gratifying  fervor.  It  was  kindly 
esteemed,  too,  by  others.  Very  seldom  do  the 
solid  business  men  of  a  city  look  upon  a  pro- 
cession of  strikers  —  for  these  were  strikers  — 
with  the  benign  indulgence  accorded  this 
noisy  crew.  And  very  seldom  do  respectable 
citizens  of  any  town  appear  in  such  dingy 
boots  as  those  which  covered  the  feet  of  some 
genteel  people. 

For  this  was  a  procession  of  striking  boot- 
blacks and  newsboys,  and  for  a  time  the  sun 
had  a  corner  on  "  shining." 


148  THE  CHAMPION 

Banners  fluttered  to  the  breeze ;  quaint 
standards  were  held  aloft.  One  tore  this 
strange  device,  "BLOOD  OR  PIE/'  and 
elicited  a  peal  of  laughter  whenever  it  came 
around  a  corner. 

As  far  as  the  interests  of  their  trades  were 
concerned  the  strikers  might  have  forgotten 
their  grand  display  within  a  week,  for  they 
were  soon  underbidding  each  other,  and  the 
price  of  a  "  shine  "  had  fallen  to  the  old  fa- 
miliar nickel  before  the  sun  was  fairly  through 
his  job  that  day. 

But  they  long  remembered,  perhaps  for 
years,  the  electric  thrill  that  quivered  through 
the  ranks  of  the  procession  when  a  well-known 
police  officer  signaled  to  the  vanguard  to  halt. 
The  boys  brought  up  suddenly,  surprised  and 
perhaps  a  little  frightened. 

The  officer  strode  up  and  tapped  Ned  on 
the  shoulder.  Though  neither  bootblack  nor 
newsboy,  Ned  was  a  friend  of  the  strikers. 
He  was  a  public  character  among  his  fellows, 
and  the  ruling  spirit  of  this  demonstration, 
which  had  been  long  in  preparation.  He  had 


THE  CHAMPION  149 

stood  at  the  head  of  the  column  without  a 
qualm,  for  he  had  felt  in  clearing  his  con- 
science last  night  as  if  he  had  cleared  off  all 
old  scores. 

Nobody  so  astonished  now  as  Ned  ! 

"What  fur? "he  gasped.  The  officer 
lifted  the  warrant  slightly  out  of  his  breast 
pocket,  and  pointing  his  big  thumb  toward 
it  replied  succinctly,  — 

"  Housebreaking,  larceny,  and  arson." 

"  My  eye !  "  exclaimed  a  little  newsboy, 
concentrating  an  amazed  stare  upon  the  di- 
minutive alleged  housebreaker,  thief,  and  in- 
cendiary. 

Ned's  heart  sank,  —  all  his  forebodings 
realized^  —  all  his  scheming  in  vain  !  He 
had  much  ado  to  keep  from  bursting  into 
tears.  Yet  he  was  helplessly  wondering  how 
they  had  come  to  suspect  him  of  knowing 
aught  of  the  burning  of  the  theatre  or  the 
theft  of  the  money  and  diamonds,  when  he 
had  so  persistently  kept  his  own  counsel. 

The  officer  would  tell  nothing  as  he  hur- 
ried the  boy  along.  The  gaping  procession 


150  THE  CHAMPION 

followed,  still  mechanically  bearing  aloft  the 
banners  which  Ned's  own  ingenuity  had  de- 
vised and  constructed. 

"  Ye  '11  find  out  soon  enough,"  was  all  his 
laconic  captor  would  say. 

Ned  found  out  only  when  the  warrant  was 
read  and  Peter  Bateman  was  testifying  before 
the  magistrate. 

The  fat  boy's  cheeks  were  flabby  and  white. 
A  cold  perspiration  glistened  in  his  hair,  which 
stood  up  straight  and  stubbly  above  his  fore- 
head. His  eyes  seemed  very  close  together  in- 
deed. He  was  greatly  frightened  and  agitated, 
and  the  magistrate,  who  had  a  keener  discrimi- 
nation of  the  merits  of  a  good  dinner  than  of 
the  various  phases  of  human  nature,  encour- 
aged him,  and  spoke  kindly  to  him  whenever 
he  faltered.  He  seemed  very  reluctant  to 
give  his  testimony,  and  the  justice  accounted 
this  aversion  to  accuse  his  friend  a  fine  trait 
of  character,  and  regarded  Pete  yet  more 
favorably. 

Pete  cast  but  one  glance  at  Ned.  He 
withdrew  his  eyes  hastily  and  kept  them  fixed 


THE  CHAMPION  151 

appealingly  on  the  justice's  face.  He  told 
his  story  glibly  enough  when  once  fairly  at  it, 
for  he  had  spent  the  interval  since  he  was 
last  before  the  magistrate  in  reciting  it  again 
and  again  to  himself,  that  he  might  not  let  it 
vary  with  the  sworn  statement  which  he  had 
previously  made. 

"  I  ain't  goin'  ter  git  busted  now  fur  per- 
jury —  sure  pop/'  he  said  to  himself. 

Even  in  its  midst  he  was  wondering  how 
he  could  tell  it  at  all  with  the  consciousness 
of  Ned's  fiery  eyes  fixed  upon  him.  It  would 
be  too  much  to  say  that  he  had  no  remorse. 
He  did  wish  that  Ned  could  know  that  he  had 
not  intended  to  bring  affairs  to  this  pass,  — 
that  he  had  only  lied,  as  boys  often  lie,  for 
petty  spite,  and  had  never  imagined  the  far- 
reaching  consequences  that  had  ensued.  If 
Pete  had  been  a  receptive  subject  for  a  moral 
lesson  he  might  now  have  learned  what  a 
terrible  engine  for  evil  even  a  diminutive  lie 
can  be.  But  he  was  only  asking  himself 
how  could  he  be  expected  to  foresee  such  a 
coincidence  as  the  probable  pillage  of  the 


152  THE  CHAMPION 

theatre,  supplemented  by  the  burning  of  the 
building. 

Still,  the  realization  of  all  the  evil  he  had 
wrought  came  upon  him  with  such  crushing 
force  at  the  end  of  his  story  that  he  burst  into 
tears  and  convulsive  sobs  and  presented  quite 
an  edifying  spectacle  of  sympathizing  and 
grieving  friendship. 

"  Well,  —  well,"  said  the  acute  magistrate 
soothingly,  "  you  have  done  the  best  you  could, 
—  you  are  a  good  boy." 

"  He  's  a  liar !  "  Ned  flamed  out  suddenly. 
"A  liar!  A  liar!" 

The  next  moment  Ned  saw  that  this  out- 
burst of  wrath  had  done  him  harm.  It  seemed 
that  only  a  turbulent  and  vicious  character 
would  thus  meet  reluctant  accusation  with 
vociferous  abuse.  The  justice  coldly  and 
sternly  ordered  him  to  be  silent.  The  spec- 
tators looked  askance  at  him.  Earlier  they 
had  not  been  without  sympathy  and  a  hope- 
ful expectation  that  the  boy  could  show  his 
innocence.  At  the  outset,  when  informed  by 
the  magistrate  of  his  right  to  counsel  at  every 


THE  CHAMPION  153 

stage  of  the  proceedings,  Ned's  prompt  re- 
fusal to  send  for  a  lawyer  won  him  favor,  as 
it  indicated  an  evident  belief  that  his  inno- 
cence could  be  easily  established  without  aid. 
His  vehement  negative  raised  a  laugh,  how- 
ever, at  the  expense  of  the  profession,  for  it 
was  Ned's  conviction  that  lawyers  are  a  prag- 
matical, exacting  tribe,  and  far  more  likely  to 
complicate  matters  than  to  simplify  them. 

There  was  a  stir  of  uncertainty  and  curios- 
ity when  the  magistrate  asked  the  little  de- 
fendant if  he  wished  to  make  any  statement 
concerning  the  circumstances  in  the  case  and 
in  contradiction  of  the  testimony  given  against 
him,  informing  him  at  the  same  time  that  he 
could  waive  making  such  a  statement  at  pre- 
sent, and  that  such  waiver  could  not  be  used 
against  him  either  now  or  afterward  at  his 
trial.  It  seemed  in  evident  expectation  of  an 
immediate  discharge  that  Ned  declined  to  avail 
himself  of  this  opportunity  to  postpone  the 
issue  and  prepare  for  it. 

In  fact  he  believed  he  could  dissipate  the 
unfortunate  impressions  which  he  had  created 


154  THE  CHAMPION 

by  telling  a  plain,  straightforward  story  about 
the  scheme  to  see  the  play,  and  what  was  said 
by  Pete  in  his  fantastic  threats  while  at  the 
window. 

"  I  can  tell  you  all  about  it  in  three  minutes 
'thout  no  lawyer/'  he  declared,  and  forthwith 
plunged  tumultuously  into  the  narration. 

At  this  moment  a  little  judicious  kindness 
might  have  elicited  all  that  the  boy  had  seen 
and  heard.  The  justice,  however,  did  not  en- 
courage him  as  he  had  encouraged  Pete.  He 
seemed  inimical  and  severe,  and  when  Ned 
hesitated  in  small  matters  glanced  at  him 
sharply.  He  evidently  regarded  Ned  as  a 
case  of  precocious  hoodlum.  Once  more  the 
frightened  boy  thought  his  safety  lay  in 
silence.  He  was  only  suspected  as  yet,  he 
argued  within  himself.  Nothing  could  be 
proved  against  him  except  that  he  got  into 
the  building  at  the  window.  He  knew  that 
in  several  of  the  States  boys  no  older  than 
he  was  had  been  convicted  of  felonies  and 
sentenced  to  the  penitentiary.  Therefore  he 
feared  that  his  own  extreme  youth  would  be 


THE  CHAMPION  155 

regarded  as  a  very  slight  palliation  of  the 
crime  of  which  he  stood  accused,  and  that 
he  might  be  locking  the  doors  of  the  State 
prison  upon  himself  for  a  long  term  if  he 
should  tell  all  and  his  story  be  disbelieved  or 
misinterpreted. 

Instead  of  the  firm,  coherent  detail  of  the 
facts  exactly  as  they  had  happened,  with 
which  he  had  been  proceeding,  he  began, 
as  these  thoughts  surged  through  his  mind, 
to  stumble,  —  to  repeat  his  words,  to  fall  on 
long,  reflective  pauses ;  and  finally  he  ceased 
abruptly  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence. 

The  magistrate  had  occasionally  looked  up 
impatiently ;  he  elevated  his  eyebrows,  pursed 
his  lips  inquiringly,  and  now  laid  down  his 
pen  outright. 

"Is  that  all?"  he  said. 

"  Naw,  sir,"  Ned  admitted,  in  grievous  agi- 
tation. 

Perhaps  his  youth  and  his  hard  straits  and 
the  terrible  future  which  seemed  impending 
over  him  touched  the  justice.  He  gave  a 
little  line.  He  felt  that  he  hardly  exceeded 


156  THE  CHAMPION 

the  intention  of  the  restrictions  of  his  office  in 
prompting  the  defendant,  helping  him  out,  in 
view  of  his  youth,  inexperience,  and  friend- 
lessness,  —  giving  him  a  chance  to  tell  his 
story  and  establish,  if  it  might,  his  innocence. 

"  Do  you  want  to  tell  how  you  saw  the 
play?"  * 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Ned,  plucking  up  heart  of 
grace. 

"  And  how  you  got  out  ?  " 

"  Got  out  of  the  window  wher'  I  got  in." 

"  Do  you  want  to  tell  why  you  did  not  go 
out  at  the  back  door  ?  " 

"  Did  n't  know  wher'  't  wuz,"  replied  Ned. 

All  these  facts  were  being  incorporated  in 
the  written  statement  of  Ned's  own  account 
of  himself,  which  when  finished  would  be 
read  to  him,  and  which  he  might  sign  or  not, 
as  he  would,  but  the  magistrate  would  annex 
the  reason  for  no  signature  in  case  he  should 
refuse.  It  was  beginning  to  take  a  definite 
value,  and  the  two  returned  to  this  unique 
method  of  getting  at  the  facts  with  renewing 
spirit.  Alas  for  the  next  question ! 


THE  CHAMPION  157 

"Do  you  want  to  tell  why  you  did  not 
follow  the  employees  to  the  back  door  ?  " 

Ned  did  not  answer.     His  face  fell. 

The  justice  looked  surprised  and  disap- 
pointed. He  returned  to  the  effort. 

"  You  were  afraid  of  being  seen  by  some  of 
them  ?  Was  that  the  reason  you  did  not  fol- 
low them?" 

Ned  still  was  silent. 

The  justice  was  obviously  ill  at  ease.  He 
had  ventured  upon  an  innovation  in  a  very 
important  matter,  which  he  felt  was  unjustifi- 
able unless  some  valuable  result  were  to  ac- 
crue. There  was  something  singular  in  the 
case,  and  he  had  his  qualms  in  committing 
the  boy  to  jail  without  a  fair  opportunity  to 
show  his  innocence.  For  this  he  had  already 
gone  far.  The  fact  would  not  be  mended  nor 
marred  by  going  further. 

"  Did  you  leave  any  one  in  the  theatre  ?  " 
he  queried. 

"  Yes,  sir/'  faltered  Ned. 

"  How  many  did  you  leave  there  ? "  de- 
manded the  magistrate  briskly,  seeing  the 


158  THE  CHAMPION 

possibility  of  shifting   the  crime  from  such 
narrow  shoulders. 

"  Three  men."     (General  sensation.) 
"  Give  their  names/'  said  the  magistrate, 
fingering  his  pen  and  feeling  his  hand  upon 
the  heart  of  the  mystery. 
"  Dunno  their  names." 
"  But  you  could  identify  them  ?  " 
To  his   great  displeasure  Ned  would  not 
answer.   The  magistrate  persisted.    (( Did  you 
want  to   describe    them?      Was    that    your 
intention  ?  " 

Still  Ned  refused  to  speak. 
The  justice  looked  at  him,  baffled.  There 
were  few  persons  present,  and  most  of  them 
the  miniature  strikers.  But  he  discerned  in 
the  countenances  of  the  officers  and  a  lawyer 
or  two,  besides  those  representing  the  prose- 
cutors, an  alert  appreciation  of  his  departure 
from  the  methods  of  his  office  and  the  letter 
of  the  law. 

"  Come,  come,  now,  —  what  were  they  do- 
ing?" 

Ned  looked  down  at  his  convulsively  work- 


THE  CHAMPION  159 

ing  hands  and  said  nothing,  —  knowing  not 
what  to  say  and  what  to  leave  unsaid. 

"What  o'clock  was  it  when  you  left?" 
The  magistrate  essayed  as  he  supposed  an  easy 
inquiry.  He  wished  not  to  have  it  said  that 
with  an  unprecedented  course  of  questioning 
he  had  reduced  the  prisoner  to  silence  when 
the  law  expressly  provides  what  shall  be  asked 
of  him,  and  that  with  his  consent,  by  the  exam- 
ining magistrate.  He  could  not  conceive  that 
the  interrogation  as  to  the  hour  when  one  quit- 
ted a  theatre  could  prove  an  embarrassment. 
It  failed,  however,  to  reopen  verbal  communi- 
cation. Ned  heard  again  far  away  that  tolling 
bell  of  the  night  strike  the  mystic  note  of  one 
o'clock,  the  single  weighty  tone,  impressive, 
awe-inspiring,  with  the  recollection  of  the 
darkness  and  the  strangeness  of  his  awakening. 

Once  more  he  said  nothing. 

The  justice  at  last  desisted  in  irritation. 
He  had  not  acquitted  himself  to  his  satisfac- 
tion, and  he  began  to  be  more  acutely  ill  at 
ease  as  he  noted  two  or  three  newspaper  re- 
porters in  the  room,  who  had  been  attracted 


160  THE  CHAMPION 

by  the  rumor  of  unusual  circumstances  in  the 
examination  which  had  already  gotten  wind. 
One  of  the  reporters  suddenly  addressed  the 
magistrate,  and  to  Ned's  surprise  and  his  deep 
mortification  he  recognized  a  representative  of 
the  paper  which  he  also  served  in  his  humble 
capacity. 

"May  it  please  your  honor/'  said  the  re- 
porter courteously,  "I  know  the  defendant 
very  well,  and  can  testify  to  his  general  good 
character." 

The  justice,  thoroughly  out  of  temper,  re- 
plied testily,  "  To  please  me  you  would  have 
to  testify  to  a  good  deal  more  than  that." 

66 1  thought  from  your  manner  that  you 
would  be  glad  to  be  able  to  avoid  committing 
so  young  a  lad."  The  reporter  sought  to 
justify  himself. 

Now  this  comment  upon  the  course  which 
the  justice  had  seen  fit  to  take,  since  he  him- 
self did  not  altogether  approve  it,  was  the 
most  unfortunate  that  could  have  been  made 
in  Ned's  interest.  That  it  was  disapproved 
by  the  detective,  the  officers,  and  the  lawyers 


THE  CHAMPION  161 

of  the  parties  who  were  grievous  sufferers  by 
the  crime  in  which  Ned  had  contrived  to  be- 
come entangled  and  who  naturally,  from  the 
magnitude  of  the  losses,  were  not  disposed  to 
leniency,  was  most  obvious  from  their  general 
facial  expression,  although  no  overt  indication 
of  dissatisfaction  had  been  adventured. 

"  Fortunately  you  are  not  here  to  think  !  " 
retorted  the  justice.  His  large  head,  with  its 
fat  jowl,  was  canted  slightly  backward  as  he 
spoke,  his  hands  were  lightly  clasped  across 
his  capacious  stomach,  and  he  looked  at  the 
reporter  from  under  the  half -closed  lids  of 
small,  narrow,  unfriendly  eyes. 

The  reporter  was  of  a  type  of  man  calcu- 
lated to  be  particularly  unacceptable  to  the 
burly  demagogue  of  a  justice.  The  blond, 
handsome  youngster  was  something  of  a  fop. 
Indeed,  he  went  by  the  sobriquet  of  "  dude 
reporter "  in  the  composing-room.  He  was 
nevertheless  a  very  efficient  newspaper  man, 
he  came  of  good  people,  he  was  essentially  a 
gentleman,  and  he  was  of  a  specially  kind  and 
amiable  disposition.  He  could  no  more  have 


162  THE  CHAMPION 

refrained  from  seeking  to  help  Ned  at  this 
pinch  than  if  the  boy  were  drowning  before  his 
eyes.  He  had  been  silent  at  first,  although 
he  stared  as  if  he  thought  he  had  the  night- 
mare when  the  spectacle  of  the  forlorn  little 
printer's  devil  in  custody  broke  upon  his 
astonished  gaze.  He  had,  however,  waited  to 
interfere  till  the  moment  when  the  justice's 
decision  seemed  imminent,  hoping  that  Ned 
had  some  ground  of  defense,  some  testimony 
to  offer  that  would  serve  to  extricate  him. 
Now  he  could  wait  no  longer,  and  he  braved 
the  wrath  of  the  justice,  and,  what  was  much 
more  formidable  to  him,  the  gleeful  relish  of 
two  reporters  from  other  papers,  who  were 
even  now  writing  him  up  before  his  eyes  as 
fast  as  their  waggish  pencils  could  travel. 

"  Ned  ! "  he  cried  indignantly,  "  why  don't 
you  answer  his  honor  ?  You  know  that  you 
can't  be  guilty  of  all  those  crimes.  Tell 
him  about  the  affair !  " 

The  justice  was  for  a  moment  as  one  pet- 
rified. Then  he  rallied  his  faculties.  "  Young 
man,"  he  said  menacingly,  "  do  you  know 
where  you  are  ?  " 


THE  CHAMPION  163 

One  of  the  gayly  facetious  reporters  added 
"  at "  to  the  sentence,  and  thus  it  stood  in  the 
printed  columns  in  the  morning. 

"  I  beg  your  honor's  pardon/'  said  the  dude 
reporter  humbly,  "  but  noting  your  honor's 
kind  efforts  to  make  the  child  divulge  the 
names  of  the  wicked  men  who  may  be  utiliz- 
ing his  youth  and  ignorance  to  conceal  their 
crimes  of  larceny  and  arson,  I  ventured  to 
speak  to  him.  He  knows  me  very  well,  and 
I  thought  I  might  aid  your  honor  by  reason 
of  my  long  acquaintance  with  him.  He  is  a 
very  good  boy  "  — 

"  Must  be,"  interrupted  the  justice  sarcas- 
tically, —  "  not  at  all  obstinate." 

— "  and  greatly  valued  by  his  employers. 
I  felt  that  you  would  like  that  any  one  who 
could  should  testify  in  his  behalf." 

"  If  you  have  anything  specific  to  say  on 
that  head  you  may  speak,  —  that  is,  if  he  will 
permit  you,  —  you  see  that  he  has  no  counsel ; 
otherwise  it  is  not  worth  while  to  administer 
the  oath." 

The  dude  reporter  reflected  doubtfully,  all 


164  THE  CHAMPION 

unmindful  of  the  flying  pencils  of  the  other 
reporters  "  scooping  "  him  on  the  spot.  But 
when  he  came  to  consider  his  knowledge  of 
Ned  he  was  compelled  to  perceive  that  it  was 
in  the  nature  of  things  negative  and  trivial, 
and  would  do  more  harm  adduced  than  ne- 
glected. Of  what  avail  to  detail  the  puerile 
little  incidents  of  which  such  a  boy's  life  was 
made  up?  When  Ned  fell  into  disgrace  be- 
cause the  office  cat  was  reduced  to  misery  and 
despair  by  reason  of  a  tin  can  tied  to  its  tail, 
it  required  no  great  knowledge  of  character  to 
discover  that  this  was  the  joyous  work  of  a 
certain  roguish  office-boy,  and  to  relieve  Ned 
of  suspicion,  which  only  fell  upon  him  be- 
cause he  was  the  younger  of  the  two.  Ned 
dined  with  this  cat  daily,  dividing  with  it  the 
meagre  contents  of  the  little  tin  pail  which  he 
brought  from  home.  He  went  about  much 
of  the  time  with  the  cat  in  his  arms,  although 
scornfully  admonished  to  "Hush-a-bye  your 
baby!  "  by  this  office-boy,  who  could  be  mock- 
ing as  well  as  roguish.  The  too  dainty  staff, 
as  Ned  considered  them,  were  often  scandal- 


THE  CHAMPION  165 

ized  by  the  cat's  appearance  in  triumph,  bear- 
ing a  big,  live  rat  through  the  editorial 
rooms,  and  not  to  be  diverted  from  a  tour  of 
the  place  till  the  devil  could  be  found,  and 
the  notable  capture  exhibited  to  its  human 
friend.  Ned  seemed  to  delight  in  little  ser- 
vices of  utility,  offered  gratuitously  and  evi- 
dently with  no  expectation  of  reward ;  but  this 
only  proved  the  kindness  of  heart  of  this  gen- 
tle little  devil,  and  as  the  reporter  racked  his 
brains  he  realized  that  many  of  the  facts  pos- 
sible to  cite  in  his  favor  were  only  of  this 
nature.  Ned  would  see  to  it  that  a  great  ar- 
ray of  pencils  well  sharpened  were  laid  ready 
for  use  on  each  desk  before  the  editorial  work 
commenced  daily,  although  this  was  none  of 
his  duty,  more  properly  falling  within  the 
functions  of  the  negligent  office-boys.  The 
night  editor,  the  proud  possessor  of  a  spheri- 
cal pincushion  fashioned  by  an  ingenious  fe- 
male relative,  on  frugal  holiday  gifts  intent, 
was  helplessly  wont  to  see  it  roll  its  rotundi- 
ties out  of  reach  whenever  needed,  followed 
by  reluctant  feet  and  hearty  maledictions,  till 


166  THE  CHAMPION 

he  found  it  one  day  secured  against  the  wall 
by  a  wire  ingeniously  wrought  basket-wise, 
effectually  restraining  its  activities  thereafter. 
Another  editorial  pincushion  was  of  a  dark 
hue,  on  a  dusky  desk,  in  a  dim  corner,  often 
secluded  altogether  from  discovery  till  it  was 
rendered  easily  visible  to  the  naked  eye  in  any 
weather  by  a  neatly  adjusted  frill  of  white  tis- 
sue paper  fashioned  by  the  deft  fingers  of  the 
devil,  and  daily  renewed.  The  boy  never  for- 
got anything  that  might  serve  the  comfort  of 
others,  slight  though  were  his  powers  to  pro- 
mote this.  The  door  of  the  editorial  room 
had  creaked  from  time  immemorial  till  Ned 
and  a  drop  of  oil  came.  If  a  budget  of 
papers  was  forgotten  and  left  at  home,  if 
a  personal  errand  was  to  be  swiftly  done, 
and  the  leaden-footed  office-boys  recoiled  and 
protested  against  it  as  impracticable  and  con- 
tended that  they  were  hired  for  no  such  mira- 
cles of  speed,  "  Lemme  go  fur  'em,"  Ned 
would  beg ;  "  I  '11  git  'em  as  soon  as  the  print- 
ers let  me  off !  "  To  be  sure  Ned  had  his 
trifling  rewards,  his  favors  being  duly  recipro- 


THE  CHAMPION  167 

cated  in  the  way  of  small  change,  but  these 
tokens  were  obviously  unexpected,  the  simple 
little  boy  regarding  them  rather  as  free-will 
gratuities,  mere  gifts  from  sheer  kindness, 
than  as  payment  for  services.  No  wonder  the 
dude  reporter  was  willing  to  exert  himself. 
But  how  could  he  urge  these  trifling  indicia* 
of  temperament  and  character,  albeit  Ned's 
opportunities  were  commensurately  small? 
The  reporter  hesitated,  and  the  sarcastic  jus- 
tice remarked  at  last,  "May  I  remind  your 
wisdom  that  the  court  awaits  your  plea- 
sure?" 

The  blond  young  man  —  the  very  wave  of 
his  dainty  cow-lick  on  his  handsome  forehead 
was  an  offense  to  the  bluff  justice  —  flushed, 
but  replied  with  good  temper,  — 

"  Your  honor  knows  that  in  the  nature  of 
things  but  little  can  be  said  for  a  mere  child, 
whose  opportunities  for  wrong-doing  are 
limited  as  well  as  "  — 

"  Perhaps  not  so  limited  as  one  might  well 
think ! "  the  magistrate  interposed  signifi- 
cantly. 


168  THE  CHAMPION 

"  He  has  no  position  of  trust,  of  course, 
but  he  has  been  faithful  over  the  few  things 
in  his  care.  I  know  the  boy  to  be  greatly 
esteemed  by  his  employers,  —  hard-working, 
punctual,  careful,  honest  so  far  as  I  have  ever 
heard  or  observed,  eager  to  please,  industrious, 
cheerful,  willing,  the"  most  kindly  disposed 
little  fellow  I  ever  saw  in  my  life." 

The  justice  rapped  impatiently  on  his 
desk.  "  This  is  not  to  the  purpose,"  he  said. 
"  Will  you  give  bail  for  him  ?  " 

"  In  ignorance  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
crime  ?  —  no,  your  honor,  I  will  not." 

"  Will  the  paper  go  on  his  bail-bond  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  speak  for  the  management,  nat- 
urally." 

The  justice,  with  the  air  of  a  man  whose 
time  has  been  unwarrantably  wasted,  turned 
back  to  the  defendant.  He  inquired  of  Ned 
in  curt  accents  if  he  could  find  bail,  evidently 
expecting  the  negative  answer  which  he  re- 
ceived. In  view  of  the  testimony  against  him 
and  the  prisoner's  own  statement  the  justice 
declared  that  it  was  impossible  to  consider  his 


THE  CHAMPION  169 

release.  There  was  anger  in  the  magistrate's 
eye  and  impatience  in  the  bang  of  his  blot- 
ting-pad as  he  signed  the  "  mittimus  "  com- 
manding the  officer  who  had  made  the  arrest 
to  deliver  the  prisoner  to  the  jailer  of  the 
county. 

There  the  printer's  devil  was  to  await  his 
trial  at  the  next  term  of  the  criminal  court ; 
and  Peter  Bateman,  when  duly  arraigned 
among  the  "  drunk-and-disorderlies "  in  the 
police  court,  escaped  with  a  reprimand  because 
of  his  youth  and  the  fact  of  a  first  offense, 
and  was  discharged  and  at  liberty  once  more. 

When  the  door  of  Ned's  cell  fairly  closed 
upon  him  he  could  do  nothing  but  throw 
himself  on  the  floor  in  a  frenzy  of  weep- 
ing. For  a  time  he  could  think  only  of  the 
disgrace,  —  the  shame  to  himself  and  to  his 
mother.  Presently  ideas  more  practical,  more 
immediate  in  their  effects,  usurped  this  senti- 
ment. He  remembered  her  desolation,  —  her 
destitution.  His  wages  would  be  lost  to  the 
little  family  while  he  was  locked  up  here,  — 
for  how  long,  —  oh,  for  how  long !  If  they 


170  THE  CHAMPION 

would  only  let  him  work,  —  on  his  wages  had 
he  and  his  mother  lived,  —  if  they  only  would 
let  him  work  for  his  mother,  he  would  care 
for  nothing  besides.  He  broke  once  more  into 
loud  cries  and  sobs.  How  could  the  little 
household  live  without  him  and  his  weekly 
wage !  They  would  starve  —  they  would  die  ! 
He  beat  as  frantically  as  f utilely  on  the  door. 
He  tried  the  strong  bars  at  the  window  till 
every  muscle  in  his  arms  ached. 

When  exhaustion  brought  calmness  at  last, 
he  sat  down  and  tried  to  think  quietly  of 
what  could  be  done.  He  entertained  now  no 
intention  of  appealing  to  his  father's  old 
patrons  to  whom  he  had  contemplated  ap- 
plying for  counsel,  for  guidance,  in  a  difficult 
emergency.  Now,  as  he  was  tarnished  by  an 
actual  criminal  charge,  he  knew  they  would 
look  askance  upon  him.  He  was  aware  that 
his  mother  had  never,  in  her  most  stringent 
financial  needs,  considered  seeking  for  help  or 
charity  from  them,  and  hence  he  judged  the 
tie  was  not  of  a  kind  that  might  justify  money 
aid.  His  father's  name,  for  old  sake's  sake, 


THE  CHAMPION  171 

Ned  had  fancied  might  warrant  an  appeal  for 
advice,  but  he  knew  it  would  be  futile  as  an 
urgency  to  them  to  risk  money  or  to  go  upon 
his  bond,  and  naturally  so  !  If  those  who 
were  acquainted  with  him  personally  could 
not  venture  thus,  how  could  he  expect  it  from 
strangers  in  effect,  who  had  known  his  father 
indeed,  but  in  humble  guise  and  long  ago, 
and  whose  attention  could  be  brought  now  to 
Ned  himself,  only  as  a  most  precocious  suspect 
of  crime  ?  He  did  not  blame  even  the  dude 
reporter  for  declining,  but  was  grateful  to  him 
for  the  good  word  he  had  taken  the  trouble 
to  say. 

Ned's  mind  soon  left  the  details  of  the 
future.  Try  as  he  might,  it  would  not  go 
forward.  It  would  only  travel  over  and  over 
again  the  familiar  ground  of  the  singular 
events  at  the  theatre  and  the  detective's  story 
in  the  magistrate's  court  to-day.  I^ed  gave, 
however,  no  special  heed  to  the  episode,  as 
recounted,  of  mailing  the  letter ;  that  only 
proved  to  him  that  he  was  watched  then,  and 
now  ne  knew  that  he  had  been  watched  all 


172  THE  CHAMPION 

day.  He  had  no  idea  that  the  letter  was  of 
any  particular  importance  to  the  police.  The 
detective  had  included  its  mention  in  his  testi- 
mony for  purposes  of  his  own.  He  did  not 
disclose  the  fact  that  he  had  ascertained  to 
whom  it  was  addressed.  He  only  wished  to 
discover  by  the  expression  of  the  boy's  face 
whether  Ned  attached  any  significance  to  a 
possible  disclosure  of  this  correspondence; 
but  there  was  no  added  shade  of  fear  or 
anxiety  upon  it,  and  the  wily  detective  was  for 
the  nonce  baffled. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  letter  continued  to  be  an  interesting 
subject  of  speculation  to  the  detective.  His 
theory  that  Gorham  had  burned  his  own  thea- 
tre, and  that  the  boy,  being  a  party  to  the 
crime  or  having  knowledge  of  it,  was  seeking 
to  extort  money,  had  taken  a  strong  hold 
upon  him.  He  was  determined  to  discover 
the  contents  of  that  letter. 

Of  course  no  one  as  yet  except  the  chief  of 
police  knew  that  suspicions  of  Mr.  Gorham 
were  entertained.  As  the  manager  was  a  man 
of  wealth  and,  in  that  sense,  of  influence  and 
position,  it  was  necessary  to  observe  great 
caution  in  proceeding.  The  merest  whisper 
of  such  suspicion  would  offer  deadly  offense 
to  Gorham  if  he  were  innocent,  and  doubtless 
would  entail  consequences  yet  more  serious  to 
any  speculator  on  the  subject.  If  on  the  con- 
trary he  were  guilty,  it  would  be  wise  not  to 


174  THE  CHAMPION 

give  him  the  alarm  prematurely.  Therefore 
very  quietly  and  furtively  did  the  detective 
address  himself  to  the  duty  of  investigating 
Gorham. 

In  common  with  most  people  connected 
with  the  theatre,  Mr.  Gorham  was  a  late  riser. 
These  important  events  of  the  morning  had 
happened  before  he  was  up.  They  had  served 
to  wake  him  earlier  than  usual.  He  had  been 
informed  of  the  suspicions  against  Ned,  and 
being  notified  of  his  subsequent  arrest,  at  once 
telephoned  a  lawyer  and  was  thus  present  by 
his  counsel  at  the  examination. 

The  detective  had  become  acquainted  with 
some  of  his  habits,  and  had  learned  that  his 
letters,  which  before  the  fire  were  sent  to  his 
office  at  the  theatre,  were  now  left  by  his 
orders  at  the  hotel  where  he  lived.  His  busi- 
ness of  late  years  had  not  been  altogether 
satisfactory  or  successful,  and  he  probably  did 
not  yearn  for  the  contents  of  his  letters  as 
appetizers ;  he  was  wont  to  lay  them  aside  un- 
opened until  breakfast  was  concluded. 

The   obliging  waiter  who    served   him   at 


THE  CHAMPION  175 

table  had  to  this  extent  given  him  away,  for 
and  in  consideration  of  a  quarter  of  a  dollar 
to  him  in  hand  paid  by  the  detective.  The 
attendant,  however,  mistook  the  officer  for  a 
creditor  or  a  subscription  agent  merely,  who 
wished  to  seize  the  manager  at  an  auspicious 
moment  when  he  might  be  made  to  pay  up  or 
subscribe  or  do  something  equally  desperate. 

The  detective,  the  wily  fox,  had  determined 
to  be  with  Gorham  at  the  instant  when  he 
should  open  Ned's  letter. 

"  I  '11  ask  to  be  allowed  to  read  the  letter, 
and  I  '11  see  how  he  takes  that,"  thought  the 
detective. 

He  contrived  to  meet  Gorham  in  the  corri- 
dor of  the  hotel  just  when  he  had  finished  his 
breakfast,  and  at  once  addressed  him  on  the 
pretext  of  reporting  the  details  of  the  investi- 
gation of  the  burning  of  the  theatre,  which 
the  manager  had  joined  the  other  sufferers  by 
the  fire  in  instituting,  and  the  "  shadowing  " 
of  the  boy  whom  Pete  had  accused  of  enter- 
ing the  building  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
theft. 


176  THE  CHAMPION 

They  walked  while  talking  to  the  door  of 
the  hotel;  and  standing  on  the  broad  stone 
steps  outside,  Gorham  paused  to  light  his 
cigar.  He  listened  to  the  particulars  of  the 
capture  of  the  boy  and  the  scenes  in  the  com- 
mitting magistrate's  court  without  a  show  of 
feeling  of  any  sort  while  he  puffed  his  cigar 
into  a  glow.  Then  he  threw  the  blazing 
match  aside,  thrust  both  hands  into  his  pock- 
ets, and  stared  fixedly  at  the  big,  velvety  red 
leaves  of  a  hanging  basket  in  a  window  hard 
by.  His  whole  aspect  was  calculated  to  inti- 
mate to  the  detective  that  the  recital  was 
wearisome  to  the  last  degree  and  it  would  be 
well  to  have  done  with  it. 

How  the  wily  fox  watched  him  ! 

"  He  wrote  a  letter  last  night,  —  the  boy 
did,"  the  detective  said  slowly. 

Gorham  still  stared  absently  at  the  great 
red,  velvety  leaves.  He  was  satisfied  with  the 
amount  for  which  the  property  was  insured ; 
he  was  busy  with  his  plans  for  the  future  ; 
he  was  already  tired  of  the  subject  of  the  fire ; 
he  believed  it  the  result  of  an  accident  or 


THE  CHAMPION  177 

the  carelessness  of  the  night  watchman.  This 
official  had  testified  at  the  trial  that  morn- 
ing that  an  acquaintance,  a  minor  employee 
of  the  theatre,  a  scene-shifter,  passing  on  the 
street  late  in  the  night,  had  paused  on  the 
corner  for  a  casual  friendly  word ;  he  had 
been  seized  with  the  conviction  that  he 
smelled  fire,  and  then  opining  that  it  issued 
from  the  basement  of  the  theatre,  he  had  ac- 
companied the  night  watchman  thither,  and 
they  were  turning  over  the  varied  assortments 
in  the  property-room  and  hunting  among  the 
tangles  of  ropes  and  lif ts  and  stage  machinery, 
and  examining  the  furnace-room  and  pervad- 
ing the  place  while  the  house  was  actually  in 
flames  above  their  heads.  The  scene-shifter, 
too,  had  given  testimony  to  the  same  effect. 
In  this  connection  Gorham  was  recollecting 
the  difficulty  which  he  had  experienced,  in 
common  with  every  householder  perhaps,  in 
forcing  employees  of  whatever  sort  to  observe 
even  a  minimum  of  caution  in  dealing  with 
fire  and  lights.  He  thought  the  police  were 
on  a  false  scent  and  were  magnifying  the  clue 


178  THE  CHAMPION 

of  the  chance  entrance  of  the  boy — a  child's 
device  to  steal  a  sight  at  a  "  show  "  —  into  a 
complicity  with  house-breakers  and  thieves 
and  incendiaries. 

The  street  was  unusually  quiet  at  this  mo- 
ment. Then  a  great  transfer  rattled  by,  its 
jarring  turbulence  filling  the  sunshine  that 
blazed  beyond  the  scalloped  shadow  of  the 
awning,  and  calling  up  a  hollow,  tremulous 
echo  from  a  cave  which  it  was  said  lay  under 
the  town.  What  strange,  high-colored  dreams 
of  the  outside  world  must  these  prosaic  vibra- 
tions take  quivering  into  the  darkened  exist- 
ence of  the  troglodytes  —  if  any  such  mystic 
cave  -  dweUers  could  be  here  !  What  shad- 
owy, picturesque  fancies  the  echo  led  coyly 
out  in  the  sunshine  !  The  manager  took  his 
cigar  from  his  lips  and  gazed  pensively  into 
the  air.  He  had  been  thinking  of  trying  the 
"spectacular"  in  a  certain  sort  and  on  a 
grand  scale  when  he  should  rebuild.  Here 
was  an  idea,  —  some  fantastic  play,  an  opera 
perhaps,  light  but  romantic,  which  should 
call  for  caverns,  gnomes,  grotesque  conceits, 


THE  CHAMPION  179 

subterranean  splendors  —  all  wrought  with  the 
newest  mechanical  contrivances  and  electric 
effects.  He  was  trying  to  recall  some  story, 
some  old  romance,  some  half-forgotten  heroic 
poem  which  would  lend  itself  to  these  modern 
facilities  of  representation. 

He  would  not  have  believed  then  that  he 
was  never  to  rebuild  his  theatre, — that  in  less 
than  an  hour  the  thought  would  be  odious  to 
him. 

He  was  paying  scant  heed  to  the  detective's 
words.  The  officer  could  but  see  that  fact. 
The  boy  might  burden  the  postal  service  with 
his  missives  for  aught  that  Gorham  cared. 
"  Or  else/'  thought  the  man  of  suspicion, 
"  he  is  very  cleverly  pretending  indifference." 

"  The  letter  was  addressed  to  you,"  said  the 
detective  suddenly. 

There  was  an  abrupt  change  of  manner. 

"  To  me  !  "  exclaimed  Gorham  sharply. 

He  thrust  his  cigar  between  his  teeth  and 
with  a  hasty  gesture  drew  from  his  breast 
pocket  the  budget  of  letters  which  he  had 
placed  there  unopened. 


180  THE  CHAMPION 

He  instantly  distinguished  the  aspect  of 
Ned's  letter  from  the  others.  He  stared  hard 
at  the  eccentric  handwriting ;  then  he  ripped 
open  the  crumpled  envelope.  It  contained 
half  a  dollar  wrapped  within  a  page  evidently 
torn  from  an  old  copy-book,  on  which,  with- 
out date  or  signature,  two  words  were 
scrawled. 

"  Conscience  Money"  he  read,  amazed. 

He  looked  from  the  bit  of  paper  to  the 
money.  He  looked  from  the  money  to  the  bit 
of  paper.  Then  he  handed  both  to  the  detec- 
tive. 

The  detective  silently  gazed  at  the  letter. 
With  his  head  set  inquiringly  askew  he  looked 
more  like  a  fox  than  ever,  —  very  sly,  very 
wise,  so  very  wise  as  to  appreciate  that  there 
are  a  few  things  —  exceedingly  few  —  which 
even  he  could  not  explain. 

For  this  could  not  be  construed  as  an 
attempt  to  extort  money  ! 

The  manager  broke  the  silence  with  a 
laugh. 

"  I  understand,"  he  said.      "  This  is  the 


THE  CHAMPION  181 

boy  who  says  that  he  got  into  the  theatre 
without  paying  —  and  it  seems  that  his  con- 
science nabbed  him !  " 

And  he  laughed  again. 

His  face  changed  as  once  more  he  fixed  his 
eyes  on  the  simple  scrawl. 

"  And  afterward  he  was  arrested  !  Poor 
little  chap ! "  he  ejaculated  gravely.  And 
again,  "  Poor  little  chap  !  " 

With  a  sudden  look  of  determination,  or 
rather  of  impulse,  for  Gorham  rarely  acted 
from  deliberate  intention,  he  set  his  hat  firmly 
on  his  head,  threw  the  half -smoked  cigar  into 
the  gutter,  and  without  another  word  strode 
off  abruptly  down  the  street,  leaving  the  de- 
tective staring  blankly  after  him. 

With  the  same  swift,  resolute  step  Gorham 
presently  took  his  way  to  a  great,  many-storied 
building,  and  paused  at  the  office  of  a  broker 
whose  name  was  emblazoned  on  the  glass 
door. 

Here  he  pushed  through  the  outer  room, 
where  several  clerks,  office-boys,  and  type- 
writers, a  telephone,  and  a  stock  indicator 


182  THE  CHAMPION 

seemed  to  be  the  presiding  genii  of  the  place. 
It  was  a  very  quiet  day ;  there  was  an  inter- 
val of  stagnation  in  the  market ;  and  without 
ceremony  he  approached  the  inner  door. 

"  Admission  free  ? "  he  threw  over  his 
shoulder  to  a  clerk,  with  an  agreeable  smile. 

He  hardly  waited  for  the  formal  reply  that 
Mr.  Vanbigh  was  disengaged  and  would  be 
pleased  to  see  him.  Gorham  evidently  had 
no  doubts  as  to  his  welcome,  for  he  opened 
the  door  of  the  inner  room  without  so  much 
as  a  tap  on  the  panel. 

Here  he  found  at  a  desk  a  man  still  young, 
albeit  his  hair  was  whitened  here  and  there 
and  showed  only  a  suggestion  of  its  pristine 
auburn  hue ;  his  eyes  were  grave  and  had 
that  steady,  concentrated  look  characteristic 
of  those  who  deal  much  with  money  in  the 
abstract,  as  it  were,  as  if  they  appreciated 
its  elusive  quality  and  fugitive  tendency  and 
kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  unexpected  vagaries. 
Nevertheless  there  was  something  in  his  as- 
pect, even  in  the  lines  of  his  firm  mouth,  with 
its  slightly  compressed  lips,  that  betokened 


THE  CHAMPION  183 

geniality,  and  the  tones  of  his  voice  were 
kind. 

"  Jim,  I  want  you  to  do  me  a  favor/'  said 
the  manager  without  preamble. 

He  disregarded  the  chair  close  at  hand  and 
perched  himself  on  the  edge  of  the  desk. 

"  You  could  n't  do  me  a  greater  favor  than 
to  ask  one,"  said  the  broker,  whose  first 
thought  was  of  course  of  the  market,  of  bulls 
and  bears,  and  he  was  prepared  to  do  his 
utmost  in  the  financial  arena,  for  this  was 
a  friend  whom  he  valued  indeed.  His  well- 
controlled  face  changed  as  Gorham  plunged 
into  Ned's  story ;  this  was  far  from  the  sort 
of  thing  which  he  had  expected,  and  taken 
by  surprise  he  could  not  all  at  once  adjust 
his  mind  to  the  point  of  view.  He  listened 
vaguely,  perceiving  no  way  in  which  this  could 
concern  any  service  that  he  could  render  Gor- 
ham, until  at  kst  the  manager  concluded  with 
the  blunt  request,  — 

"  Now  Jim,  I  want  you  to  go  down  and 
bail  the  little  fellow." 

The  broker  recoiled  aghast.     "I?     Why, 


184  THE  CHAMPION 

the  boy  would  jump  the  ranch  !  I  should 
lose  the  money !  " 

The  manager  explained.  "  I  '11  stand  in 
behind  you.  If  the  boy  runs  away  and  you 
have  to  pay  the  money  I  '11  make  it  good.  1 
can't  go  on  the  bail-bond,  you  see,  because  it 
would  n't  do  for  me  to  appear  as  one  of  the 
prosecutors  in  the  case  and  surety  on  the 
bond  as  well !  Even  if  /  could  get  out  of  the 
case  now  against  him,  the  other  prosecutors 
would  hold  on  to  him." 

Vanbigh  said  nothing.  He  looked  at  once 
surprised,  distrustful,  troubled. 

Gorham  talked  on  impulsively.  "  This  is 
the  first  genuine  case  of  conscience  I  have 
seen  for  many  a  year !  Believe  a  boy  who 
could  n't  endure  to  chouse  me  out  of  half  a 
dollar  burned  my  theatre  !  No,  sir !  I  tell 
you  I  have  lived  so  long  by  sham  heroics 
and  sham  sentiment  —  and  I  am  so  sick  of 
shams,  and  the  world  is  generally  such  a  big, 
shameless  sham  —  that  I  'm  mighty  apt  to 
know  a  genuine  thing  when  I  see  it  by  the 
sheer  force  of  contrast.  That  boy  won't 


THE  CHAMPION  185 

jump  the  town  !  A  boy  with  all  that  con- 
science to  carry  could  n't  run  away !  He  is 
innocent.  And  this  is  a  terrible  charge.  He 
is  helpless  and  he  ought  to  be  befriended.  I 
want  you  to  give  bail  for  him  !  " 

The  broker  was  not  only  dubious  —  he  was 
becoming  greatly  embarrassed  as  well. 

"  Suppose/'  he  suggested  in  a  constrained 
voice,  "  it  should  be  discovered  somehow  that 
I  am  not  acting  for  myself  in  bailing  him, 
but  for  you." 

Gorham  snapped  his  fingers.  "  I  don't 
care !  I  don't  intend  to  leave  that  little  boy 
to  languish  in  jail  for  months,  for  a  year  per- 
haps, till  his  trial  comes  off.  I  tell  you  the 
idea  of  doing  this  little  good  turn  freshens 
me  all  over.  I  feel  as  if  I  had  been  on  a  big 
drunk  and  somehow  got  a  gourd  of  cold  water 
from  a  little  spring  under  a  hillside,  where  I 
used  to  stop  to  drink  when  I  was  a  boy  driv- 
ing the  cows  from  the  pasture.  I  have  been 
drunk,  —  on  artificiality,  and  worldliness,  and 
selfishness." 

"  But,"  remonstrated  the  broker.  Then 
he  paused. 


186  THE  CHAMPION 

66  But  what,  man  ? "  exclaimed  Gorham 
impatiently. 

The  broker  went  red  and  was  silent.  In- 
deed, how  could  he  find  words  to  suggest 
seriously  to  a  man  of  unblemished  integrity 
that  by  this  act  of  charity,  as  for  mitigat- 
ing circumstances  men  from  sheer  motives  of 
humanity  sometimes  refuse  to  prosecute,  he 
might  compromise  himself.  He  might  be 
suspected  of  having  connived  at  the  burning 
of  the  theatre  for  the  sake  of  the  insurance 
money  and  then  having  secretly  furnished  bail 
for  the  captured  accomplice  for  fear  that  the 
boy,  if  left  in  prison,  would  reveal  and  in- 
criminate his  principal. 

"  Oh,  surely,  surely,  —  no  one  could  ever 
imagine  such  an  absurdity  !  "  thought  Van- 
bigh,  deeming  this  but  a  bit  of  over  alert  and 
captious  caution. 

Gorham  was  beginning  to  show  unmistak- 
able signs  of  anger,  even  offense.  Yet  he 
was  only  the  more  determined. 

"  Jim,"  he  said  in  a  different  tone,  "  you 
and  all  your  family  have  always  protested 
yourselves  under  great  obligations  to  me." 


THE  CHAMPION  187 

He  paused  as  if  for  a  reply. 

"  You  know  what  we  feel  for  you !  "  Van- 
bigh  replied  warmly.  He  lifted  earnest  eyes 
as  he  spoke. 

For  Gorham  had  been  a  schoolfellow  of 
Vanbigh's  elder  brother,  and  although  later 
in  life  they  had  drifted  apart  in  point  of  as- 
sociation, there  had  always  been  that  affec- 
tionate tie  of  old  reminiscence  between  them. 
Only  some  two  or  three  years  earlier  than 
the  present  they  had  chanced  to  meet  in 
New  Orleans,  where  they  were  lingering  still 
at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  one  of  the 
terrible  pestilences  of  yellow  fever.  Gorham, 
when  his  friend  succumbed,  one  of  the  first 
cases,  nursed  him  like  a  brother,  would  not 
leave  him,  although  he  could  then  have  es- 
caped in  the  general  panic-stricken  exodus, 
never  left  him,  indeed,  for  an  instant,  and  after 
his  death,  being  detained  by  the  quarantine, 
contracted  the  infection  and  came  very  near 
death  himself,  alone  and  among  strangers. 
People  said  that  it  was  a  mere  impulse  of 
Gorham's,  —  but  the  relatives  of  his  friend 


188  THE  CHAMPION 

felt  and  expressed  great  gratitude.  He  him- 
self had  never  before  mentioned  it. 

"  I  know  what  you  all  said"  he  remarked 
significantly.  "I  never  doubted  it  before." 
He  would  have  paid  "  good  money  "  to  an 
actor  who  could  command  a  tone  of  so  subtle 
an  inflection  as  to  make  such  a  hit  as  that ! 

The  broker  rose  and  put  on  his  hat. 

"  I  shall  not  let  you  doubt  it  again !  "  he 
protested. 

"  You  are  a  good  fellow,  Jim  !  "  cried  Gor- 
ham,  with  great  satisfaction  in  carrying  his 
point. 

"  But  it  must  be  understood  that  I  cannot 
undertake  to  act  for  you,  under  the  circum- 
stances ;  if  the  boy  takes  flight  I  lose  the 
money  myself/'  Vanbigh  resumed. 

He  was  thinking  himself  justified  in  this 
after  all.  He  could  have  the  boy  kept  under 
surveillance  without  his  knowledge,  and  at  the 
first  suspicious  intimation  of  flight  his  bonds- 
men could  surrender  him.  Vanbigh  felt  that 
he  could  hardly  refuse  Gorham  aught  in  rea- 
son, and  believing  the  boy  innocent  of  the 


THE  CHAMPION  189 

crime  Gorham  had  evidently  set  his  heart  on 
bail  for  him.  "  But  where  am  I  to  find  another 
bondsman  ?  "  the  broker  exclaimed,  realizing 
that  these  considerations  would  scarcely  have 
weight  with  any  other  person.  "  The  law,  as 
you  know,  requires  two  sureties  on  the  bond." 

"  Get  Frank,"  suggested  Gorham  easily ; 
for  Frank  was  the  broker's  younger  brother. 

"  Frank  will  kick  like  a  mule  !  "  Vanbigh 
said  reflectively,  rather  wincing  from  the  pro- 
spective fraternal  conflict. 

"  Frank  always  kicks  like  a  whole  team  !  " 
commented  Gorham.  "  But  you  can  manage 
him." 

The  broker  shook  his  head  doubtfully.  He 
appreciated,  for  indeed  he  had  learned  from 
experience,  that  a  conflict  with  those  of  one's 
own  household  presents  special  and  difficult 
belligerent  elements.  He  was  expectant  of 
a  controversy  rather  than  disappointed  by 
his  brother  Frank's  attitude  when,  repairing 
to  his  residence  for  lunch,  he  broached  the 
matter  and  requested  the  fraternal  cooper- 
ation ;  for  Frank  promptly  refused.  Any 


190  THE  CHAMPION 

disinterested  spectator  would  have  thought 
Frank  the  more  formidable  figure  in  any  en- 
counter, domestic  or  otherwise.  Frank  was 
an  amateur  athlete,  and  as  he  sat  in  the  com- 
fortable library  lighting  his  cigar  after  lunch- 
eon, the  contour  of  his  strong,  shapely  limbs 
under  his  light  fawn-tinted  spring  suit,  the 
pose  of  his  blond  head  on  his  broad  shoulders, 
the  strength  of  his  grip  suggested  in  the  mere 
manner  of  using  his  fingers,  in  casting  away 
the  match,  all  intimated  a  muscular  reserve 
power  none  the  less  formidably  apparent  for 
being  relaxed. 

"  I  am  beholden  to  you,  Jim,"  he  replied 
satirically.  "  Seem  to  think  I  am  insane  !  " 

The  windows  of  the  room  looked  out  upon 
the  wide  woodland  vistas  of  the  driving-park 
just  across  the  street.  The  heavy  velvet  carpet, 
the  antique  tall  bookcases  of  time-darkened 
mahogany  that  lined  the  walls,  even  the  spa- 
cious mirror  above  the  marble  mantelpiece,  — 
all  were  obviously  relics  of  the  past.  The  con- 
tour of  the  old-fashioned  square  brick  house, 
faced  with  gray  stone,  bespoke  its  condition 


THE  CHAMPION  191 

as  overtaken  by  the  march  of  municipal  pro- 
gress, rather  than  any  choice  of  the  fashion- 
able site  in  the  vicinity  of  the  park.  In 
fact  it  was  the  habit  of  the  household  to  be- 
wail the  approach  of  the  town,  that  in  its 
swift  strides  and  wealthy  expansion  had  over- 
hauled their  quiet  suburban  home.  But  the 
approach  of  town  had  really  worked  them  no 
harm,  either  material  or  sentimental.  They 
were  none  the  worse  for  the  letter-box  and 
kmp-post  on  the  corner,  and  the  splendid  resi- 
dences of  the  newcomers  that  made  up  the 
solid  blocks  of  the  vicinity  had  served  to  enor- 
mously enhance  the  value  of  the  property. 
From  the  windows  of  the  library  and  the  draw- 
ing-rooms one  might  never  know  that  the 
driving-park  across  the  street  was  not  still 
the  "  old  woods  "  of  years  ago,  save  for  the 
broad,  smooth,  well-kept  roads  winding  deep 
among  the  vistas  of  the  forest  trees  ;  and  the 
sylvan  tangles  were  no  less  picturesque  now, 
because  highly  appreciated  and  carefully  con- 
served by  the  taste  of  the  park  commissioners, 
than  heretofore,  when  not  considered  at  all. 


192  THE  CHAMPION 

Even  the  sound  of  the  town  was  but  a  dull 
murmur  as  it  came  in  at  the  open  windows ;  one 
could  not  discriminate  the  bang  of  the  cable 
car  which  had  set  Jim  down  at  the  corner. 
They  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  far 
away  from  city  lif e  and  city  thoughts  as  if  the 
woodland  opposite,  that  cast  so  welcome  and 
soft  a  green  shadow  through  the  lace  curtains 
and  gave  so  verdant  and  vernal  a  sylvan  view, 
were  really  a  wilderness  instead  of  its  graceful 
simulacrum. 

"  It 's  just  as  well,  perhaps,  that  nobody 
told  Gorham  that  he  seemed  insane  when  he 
fairly  threw  his  life  away,  as  he  thought, 
rather  than  desert  poor  Phil,  —  who  after  all 
had  no  sort  of  claim  on  him,"  the  broker 
replied,  lighting  his  cigar  also,  but  with  quick, 
nervous  gestures. 

Frank  was  smoking  hard.  "  Did  you  ask 
me  to  bail  Jasper  Gorham  f  "  he  demanded 
sarcastically,  between  two  mighty  puffs. 

"  I  did  not,  indeed  !  "  responded  his  brother, 
and  then  there  was  silence,  save  for  a  subdued 
clatter  of  dishes  from  the  dining-room  beyond 


THE  CHAMPION  193 

a  cross  hall,  and  the  sound  of  some  pleasant 
feminine  voices  on  a  side  veranda,  upon  which 
it  opened. 

Frank  was  more  apathetic  than  his  brother, 
and  better  held  in  hand,  but  nevertheless  the 
tone  of  this  rejoinder  struck  home. 

"  You  ask  me,"  Frank  began  to  justify  him- 
self, holding  his  cigar  to  one  side  and  waving 
the  smoke  from  his  head  with  his  other  hand, 
— "  you  ask  me  to  play  stalking-horse  for 
Gorham,  to  pretend  to  go  on  the  bail-bond  of 
this  young  criminal  while  Gorham  is  really  his 
security." 

"  Frank,"  said  the  elder  brother  coolly,  "  I 
should  really  be  warranted  in  throwing  you 
out  of  the  window." 

"  Lay  hold  !  "  said  the  athlete  complacently. 

Then  there  was  silence  for  a  time,  and  the 
two  smoked  quietly,  now  and  again  eying 
each  other  calmly,  as  if  there  had  been  no  pas- 
sage of  arms  between  them. 

The  ladies  were  coming  in  from  the  veranda. 
Frank  had  a  vague  sensation  of  uneasiness. 
He  was  of  that  type  of  man  who  seeks  to 


194  THE  CHAMPION 

exclude  women  from  the  discussion  of  business 
and  who  doubts  the  propriety  of  their  holding 
property  in  their  own  right,  even  more  than 
the  policy  of  extending  to  them  the  suffrage. 
But  the  broker's  coolness  in  the  feminine  pre- 
sence implied  the  conviction  that  after  all  it 
would  be  men  who  would  control  whatever 
extension  of  privilege  the  future  might  hold 
for  women.  He  was  contemplating  even  now 
an  intention  of  enlisting  the  interest  of  these 
as  against  the  fraternal  kicker.  It  was  he, 
therefore,  who  renewed  the  subject  immedi- 
ately upon  their  entrance. 

"  You  are  mistaken,  Frank,"  he  said.  "  I 
gave  Jasper  Gorham  to  understand  distinctly 
that  in  any  event  we  would  act  on  our  own  re- 
sponsibility, and  lose  any  money  that  may  be 
lost,  —  if  the  boy  should  escape  surveillance." 

"  What  is  it  that  Mr.  Gorham  wants?  "  de- 
manded then*  mother,  younger  of  aspect  than 
one  would  expect  from  the  presence  of  these 
stalwart  sons.  Her  hair  was  abundant,  though 
white,  and  waved  heavily  back  from  a  strong, 
sweet,  animated  face  with  fine,  well-set  blue 


THE  CHAMPION  195 

eyes.  She  was  clad  still  in  a  mourning  dress 
in  memory  of  the  son  who  had  perished  in  the 
pestilence,  and  her  voice  trembled  on  the 
syllables  of  the  manager's  name. 

The  younger  lady  paused,  too,  at  the  sound, 
and  turned  her  head  inquiringly.  She  wore  a 
dainty  house-gown,  but  even  its  tones  were 
black  and  white.  She  had  dark  hair  rolled 
h  la  Pompadour,  and  on  her  soft  pink-and- 
white  face  was  an  incongruous  expression  of 
determination  that  glanced  brightly,  too,  in 
her  clear  gray  eyes.  She  had  taken  a  baby  of 
six  months  of  age  from  a  white-capped  nurse, 
and  was  just  consigning  him  to  the  arms  of 
his  uncle,  for  this  was  Jim's  wife. 

"  Gorham  wants  to  avoid  imprisoning  a 
boy  —  a  mere  child  —  who  is  somehow  con- 
cerned in  the  fire  and  robbery  —  suspected 
of  knowing  something  about  the  affair,"  ex- 
plained the  elder  Vanbigh. 

"  Just  like  him !  "  cried  both  women,  in  a 
breath. 

"  Of  course  he  will  prosecute  the  little  lad, 
if  the  evidence  should  warrant  it,  but  he  thinks 


196  THE  CHAMPION 

it  the  unlikeliest  thing  in  the  world  that  the 
boy  is  guilty  at  all,  and  until  there  is  more 
developed  against  the  child  he  hates  to  lock 
him  up  for  months  and  months  !  It  would  do 
no  good  for  Gorham  to  refuse  to  prosecute 
him,  for  the  other  prosecutors  would  hold  on 
to  him.  So  the  little  boy  has  gone  to  jail. 
Gorham  is  terribly  wrought  up  about  it." 

"But  can't  you  arrange  it  somehow, 
James  ?  "  his  mother  asked.  "  I  should  so 
like  for  you  to  be  able  to  do  something  for 
Mr.  Gorham."  She  sighed  as  she  spoke. 

No  adequate  requital  of  their  obligations 
had  been  possible,  of  course.  They  had  not 
been  able  to  further  Gorham's  plans  in  any 
respect.  He  was  a  rich  man,  and  reputed 
even  richer  than  he  was.  He  had  no  specu- 
lative tendency  outside  of  the  theatrical  busi- 
ness. As  for  social  prestige,  he  was  not  of 
their  sort,  and  their  circle  not  his.  In  truth, 
he  had  not  cared  often  to  meet  these  tearful, 
exacting  women,  who  regarded  him  as  a  hero, 
and  whose  ideals  so  far  exceeded  his  imagi- 
nation and  his  ambition. 


THE  CHAMPION  197 

"  Gorham  asked  me  to  go  on  the  bail-bond," 
continued  the  broker,  "although  he  said  I 
should  lose  nothing  if  the  boy  absconds ; 
but  I  would  n't  agree  to  that,  and  I  asked 
Frank,  for  him,  —  but  Frank  would  n't." 

"Oh,  Frank!"  The  poignant  duet  rose 
like  a  wail,  and  the  athlete  cowered  behind 
his  nephew's  pink  ribbon  shoulder-knots  and 
white  frock  as  the  child  bounced  and  gurgled 
and  squealed  beguilingly  at  him. 

"  Do  you  think  you  are  right  to  set  them 
on  me  ?  "  said  the  strong  man  weakly. 

"  Quit  carousing  with  the  baby  and  talk 
sense  !  "  his  brother  adjured  him. 

"  Oh,  Frank  !  remember  !  "  cried  his  mo- 
ther in  tears. 

"  Oh,  Frank,  money  was  nothing  then  ! 
No  friends,  no  help,  every  creature  but  Mr. 
Gorham  fleeing  from  the  plague-stricken ! " 
cried  Frank's  sister-in-law. 

"  And  how  thoughtful  for  us  —  for  me  ! 
—  to  remember  and  bring  me  my  son's  last 
words,  his  last  messages !  "  The  tears  choked 
his  mother's  utterance. 


198  THE  CHAMPION 

"  And  then,"  said  the  younger  woman, 
weeping  in  sympathy,  —  "  to  recall  every  inci- 
dent, —  the  details  of  the  treatment,  —  to 
make  us  feel  that  everything  was  done  for 
poor  Phil  that  we  could  have  had  done,  had  we 
been  with  him  too  !  I  don't  see  how  we  could 
bear  to  think  of  Phil,  except  that  Mr.  Gorham 
was  with  him  to  the  last." 

"  And  listened  to  his  latest  sigh  and  closed 
his  eyes  in  death  !  "  said  his  mother. 

"-And  then  he  almost  died  too ;  he  risked 
his  life  —  to  make  sure  that  Phil  had  every 
chance  for  his  own  !  Oh,  —  Frank  !  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  —  he  followed  him  to  the  gates 
of  death  and  was  only  turned  back  by  a  mir- 
acle, it  seemed  —  oh,  Frank  !  " 

"  But  it  can't  be  a  question  of  money  with 
Frank,"  said  his  sister-in-law,  wiping  her 
eyes.  "  Frank  would  not  stand  on  a  question 
of  mere  money  !  " 

"  He  thinks  that  we  may  be  misconstrued," 
explained  her  husband.  "And  at  first  I 
was  doubtful.  But  now  it  seems  very  plain. 
Gorhain  naturally  does  not  want  to  keep  this 


THE  CHAMPION  199 

child  cooped  up  in  jail  so  long.  He  '11  prose- 
cute him  fast  enough  if  the  boy  seems  to 
have  really  had  anything  to  do  with  the  crime 
or  any  guilty  knowledge  of  it.  But  Gorham 
doesn't  believe  this.  He  thinks  the  facts 
will  come  out  the  sooner  if  the  boy  is  foot- 
loose and  free.  Of  course  he  will  be  kept 
under  surveillance  all  the  tune,  and  could 
hardly  run  away  if  he  wished.  We  are  in  no 
sort  of  danger  of  losing  the  money,  as  far  as 
that  goes,  and  really  /  could  not  refuse  Gor- 
ham, —  he  was  so  intent  upon  it !  " 

"  Oh,  —  Frank  !  "  cried  his  mother. 

"  Oh,  —  Frank  !  "  cried  his  brother's  wife. 

"Where's  my  hat?"  said  the  athlete 
faintly.  "  Take  the  baby  before  I  drop  him  ! 
I  'm  fairly  knocked  out !  Let  me  go  !  Come, 
Jim !  " 

On  the  way  down  town  Frank  was  again 
over  the  traces  once  or  twice,  but  kicking  was 
in  vain,  and  he  was  going  easily  in  harness, 
although  fully  realizing  the  awkwardness  of 
the  situation,  when  late  in  the  afternoon  they 
were  admitted  to  the  jail.  As  the  door  of  the 


200  THE  CHAMPION 

cell  opened,  the  jailer  with  grim  humor  said 
to  Ned,  "  I  'm  sorry  to  part  with  you,  my 
boy,  —  the  next  time  you  come  you  must 
make  us  a  longer  visit !  " 

Ned  turned  his  flushed,  swollen,  tear- 
stained  face  with  a  stare  of  blank  amazement. 
He  did  not  understand  what  the  jailer  meant, 
and  he  showed  no  recognition  whatever  of 
the  newcomers. 

The  jailer  suddenly  noted  the  fact  that  the 
two  gentlemen  were  evidently  total  strangers 
to  Ned.  He  paused  in  his  banter  to  look 
wonderingly  from  one  to  the  other. 

"  I  Ve  come  to  bail  you,  youngster,"  said 
the  elder  of  the  two,  affecting  a  familiarity 
which  he  by  no  means  felt.  "  Get  your  hat ! " 

Ned  mechanically  obeyed.  He  was  afraid 
to  ask  an  explanation,  —  to  speak  a  word,  — 
lest  it  be  discovered  in  some  way  that  the  ex- 
traordinary good  luck  in  this  deliverance  was 
all  a  mistake. 

The  jailer  still  stared,  —  more  than  ever 
after  the  great  gate  had  opened  and  let  them 
out  on  the  street.  The  two  gentlemen  walked 


THE  CHAMPION  201 

on  in  advance,  while  Ned  followed  with  an 
officer.  The  magistrate's  office  was  but  a  little 
distance  up  the  street  on  the  opposite  side,  and 
there  Ned,  scarcely  believing  his  eyes,  watched 
the  bold  flourishes  with  which  his  two  sureties 
signed  his  bail-bond,  entering  into  an  under- 
taking in  the  penal  sum  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars each  for  his  appearance  at  the  next  term 
of  the  Criminal  Court. 

When  these  formalities  were  concluded  he 
and  his  new  friends  came  out  together  still  in 
silence.  He  glanced  instinctively  over  the 
way  at  the  grim  walls  of  the  jail.  There  at 
the  gate  the  jailer  stood.  He  peered  after 
them  in  the  closing  dusk  as  they  walked  si- 
lently away,  —  peered  after  them  till  the 
night  seemed  to  swallow  them  up.  "This 
beats  all !  "  he  ejaculated. 

And  still  wondering  he  went  back  into  his 
stronghold. 


CHAPTER  IX 

IT  seemed  to  Ned  that  the  best  use  he 
could  make  of  his  liberty  was  to  pound  Pete 
Bateman. 

When,  still  silent,  he  parted  from  his  silent 
bondsmen,  he  went  without  delay  to  his  false 
friend's  home.  He  took  the  alleyway,  as  he 
always  did,  being  pretty  sure  of  finding  the 
boys  at  this  hour  in  the  back  yard  splitting 
kindling  or  bringing  in  the  wash  from  the 
clothesline,  or  engaged  in  similar  small  do- 
mestic duties.  In  fact  he  heard  the  sound 
of  chopping  wood  as  he  opened  the  gate. 

The  sound  abruptly  ceased  when  he  thrust 
in  his  head. 

It  had  grown  quite  dark.  He  could  not 
guess  whether  the  figure  with  the  shapeless 
cap  bending  over  the  kindling  were  Pete  or 
Tom,  until  after  an  astonished  gaze  at  the  in- 


THE  CHAMPION  203 

trader  it  skulked  behind  a  wash-tub  set  high 
on  a  wooden  bench. 

That  was  Pete  —  every  time ! 

Now  and  again  the  old  cap  peeped  hastily 
out  from  behind  the  wash-tub  and  was  as 
hastily  withdrawn. 

Ned  still  stood  at  the  gate.  He  hardly 
knew  what  had  become  of  his  resolve.  He 
tried  to  rally  it  by  thinking  of  the  fate  in 
store  for  him  when  this  interval  of  liberty 
should  be  at  an  end  and  the  day  set  for  his 
trial  dawn. 

Here  was  the  lying  witness  at  his  mercy. 
He  could  thrash  him,  and  thrash  him  well,  — 
for  fat  Pete  was  no  fighter.  But  somehow  he 
felt  that  a  boy  who  hid  behind  his  mother's 
wash-tub  ought  to  be  allowed  to  stay  there. 
Pete  did  not  seem  worth  a  good  substantial 
licking. 

As  Ned  stood  undecided  one  of  his  mother's 
injunctions  flashed  through  his  memory. 

"Ef  ye  can't  git  yer  consent  ter  return 
good  fur  evil,"  she  often  said,  "  hold  yer 
hands  ennyhow  from  harmin'  them  ez  have 
hurt  ye." 


204  THE  CHAMPION 

All  his  troubles,  first  and  last,  had  come 
from  disregarding  that  simple,  uncultured 
mother's  simple  precepts. 

Ned  shut  the  gate  and  walked  away. 

His  account  of  the  day's  proceedings  seemed 
a  wild,  terrible  story  to  the  panic-stricken  wo- 
man who  sat  cowering  in  the  little  room  that 
opened  on  the  vistas  of  chimney-pots  and 
clouds  and  stars.  He  found  her  in  tears. 
She  had  just  learned  of  his  arrest  through 
a  message  from  the  managing  editor  of  the 
paper,  who  sent  to  say  that  he  had  arranged 
to  have  Ned's  wages  paid  to  her  during  the 
boy's  imprisonment  as  regularly  as  if  he  were 
still  at  work.  The  editor  had  some  chari- 
table hobbies  which  thus  liberally  expressed 
themselves,  aided  in  this  instance  by  his  con- 
freres of  the  various  departments  of  the  pa- 
per. For  although  the  editorial  force  deemed 
Ned  the  tool  of  the  incendiaries  and  thieves, 
and  thought  that  his  obstinate  silence  was 
strangely  incriminating,  they  still  had  faith 
enough  in  him  to  believe  him  the  victim  of 
a  deception,  and  innocent  of  all  intentional 


THE  CHAMPION  205 

wrongdoing ;  that  he  was  somehow  the  dupe 
of;  an  over-reaching  craft,  and  the  forlorn 
scapegoat  of  the  real  criminals.  Even  thus, 
the  situation  was  discreditable  to  the  last  de- 
gree, and  well  calculated  to  alienate  whatever 
friends  the  little  lad  had  been  able  to  make 
for  himself.  But  when  the  "  dude  reporter," 
who  had  hied  himself  straightway  to  the  office, 
detailed  the  strange  disasters  that  had  befallen 
the  printer's  devil,  the  editorial  force  remem- 
bered a  thousand  trifling  benefactions  received 
at  his  small,  willing,  ink-smirched  hands,  and 
a  subscription,  circulated  among  the  desks, 
aggregated  a  sum  sufficient  to  justify  a  pro- 
mise of  the  continuance  of  the  payment  of  his 
weekly  wages  for  the  indefinite  time  of  his 
incarceration,  till  his  trial  should  set  the  ques- 
tion of  his  guilt  or  innocence  at  rest. 

Ned's  presence  at  liberty  once  more  could 
not  reassure  his  mother.  Long  after  he  had 
gone  to  announce  his  release  to  his  employers 
and  resume  his  work  she  crouched  pale  and 
chill  beside  the  monkey-stove,  although  the 
air  was  warm  and  languorous.  Her  mind  was 


206  THE  CHAMPION 

filled  with  terror  for  the  future  and  with  those 
ever  unavailing  regrets  for  the  past  and  the 
simple  country  home  of  her  youth. 

As  Ned  reached  the  newspaper  building 
and  looked  up  at  the  brilliantly  illuminated 
windows  flaring  against  the  dark  sky,  he  had 
a  renewed  sense  of  the  blessedness  of  liberty 
and  the  privilege  of  labor,  and  once  more  the 
singular  manner  in  which  bail  had  come  to 
him  recurred  to  his  mind. 

His  surprise,  however,  at  the  sensation 
which  the  story  of  his  release  produced  in 
the  sensation-seasoned  composing-room  soon 
effaced  every  other  impression. 

"  Hold  on  a  minute,"  said  the  foreman,  in- 
terrupting the  recital  in  its  midst. 

He  stepped  into  the  office  of  the  managing 
editor,  and  presently  that  magnate  came  out, 
looking  alert  and  inquisitive  and  catechistic, 
as  a  newspaper  man  will  when  there  is  a  mys- 
tery in  the  air. 

From  some  subtle  instinct  Ned  knew  that 
the  foreman  had  made  representations  which 
the  managing  editor  had  pronounced  prepos- 
terous, and  had  refused  to  believe. 


THE  CHAMPION  207 

"  So  you  were  bailed,  were  you  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  replied  Ned. 

The  editor  fitted  the  tips  of  his  fingers  to- 
gether very  accurately  while  he  looked  hard 
at  Ned.  He  spoke  slowly  and  impressively. 

"  Considering  the  very  serious  nature  of  the 
crimes  with  which  you  are  charged  and  the 
amount  fixed  for  bail,  your  sureties  must  re- 
pose a  great  deal  of  confidence  in  you.  I  hope 
that  you  will  not  abuse  it." 

"  Naw,  sir,  I  ain't  got  no  notion  o'  runnin' 
away,"  declared  Ned  stoutly. 

Both  the  editor  and  the  foreman  were  look- 
ing at  him  very  gravely. 

"  Who  were  your  bondsmen  ?  "  asked  the 
editor. 

"Sir?"  said  Ned,  bewildered  by  their 
manner. 

"  Who  gave  bail  for  you  ?  "  The  editor 
varied  the  phrase. 

"  I  dunno,  sir,"  replied  the  little  devil. 

The  foreman  grinned  triumphantly. 

"  Don't  know  ?  "  echoed  the  editor  amazed. 

"  Naw,  sir,"  admitted  Ned.     "  I  disremem- 


208  THE  CHAMPION 

ber  their  names.  I  never  seen  either  o'  them 
till  to-day." 

Strange  as  he  had  thought  the  occurrence 
at  first,  it  appeared  still  more  strange  now 
when  he  saw  how  others  regarded  it.  They 
found  it  difficult,  too,  to  believe  that  two  men 
whom  Ned  had  never  before  seen,  whose  very 
names  he  did  not  know,  would  each  stake  a 
thousand  dollars  upon  his  honesty  when  he 
was  accused  of  house-breaking,  larceny,  and 
arson,  and  had  just  been  committed  to  jail 
after  his  examining  trial.  The  managing  edi- 
tor, who  had  known  him  long,  had  done  all 
that  was  liberal,  sympathetic,  and  sensible. 
That  two  strangers  should  be  even  asked  to 
go  upon  his  bail-bond  seemed  to  Ned  a  wild 
impulsive  vagary,  —  as  indeed  it  was. 

It  did  not  seem  so  to  the  others.  Business 
men  do  not  account  for  the  assumption  of 
financial  liabilities  on  the  basis  of  an  impulsive 
vagary.  There  was  a  very  stern  expression 
on  the  editor's  face  as  he  turned  away.  This 
journal  had  done  much  to  unmask  corruption 
in  high  places,  and  to  uphold  the  standard  of 


THE  CHAMPION  209 

public  morals  and  private  integrity.  That  it 
was  not  altogether  too  good  for  this  world 
and  a  very  human  newspaper  after  all  was 
manifest  in  its  overweening  and  puffed  up 
pride  in  its  career  of  righteousness.  It  had 
waxed  bold  and  censorious,  —  it  was  even  es- 
teemed insolent  and  trenching  upon  the  reck- 
less, —  with  its  successes  and  its  impunity,  and 
it  spoke  out  very  openly  without  fear  or  favor. 

Ned  with  a  sinking  heart  began  to  experi- 
ence a  vague  but  troublous  fear  that  further 
disasters  were  impending  because  of  this.  A 
little  later  he  chanced  to  be  passing  through 
the  local  room.  He  was  obliged  to  pause  in 
his  errand  to  the  city  editor,  for  that  person- 
age himself  was  blocking  the  aisle  as  he  stood 
and  conferred  with  a  reporter  at  one  of  the 
tables. 

The  reporter,  eager  and  over-zealous  as  a 
cub-reporter  is  apt  to  be,  had  sprung  up  as 
if  to  meet  so  good  an  assignment  halfway, 
clutching  his  precious  note-book  to  his  bosom 
in  his  frenzy  of  haste  and  repeating  his  orders 
as  if  to  fix  them  in  his  mind.  "  Yes,  sir,  — 


210  THE  CHAMPION 

go  to  the  jail  to-night,  even  if  I  can't  get  a 
peep  at  the  bail-bond  till  to-morrow." 

Ned  did  not  understand,  —  why  was  he 
going  to  the  jail  ? 

The  boy's  face  bore  so  pointed  an  inquiry 
that  the  city  editor  noticed  it  as  he  turned 
around  and  almost  stumbled  over  the  printer's 
devil  with  the  message  from  the  foreman  of 
the  composing-room.  The  city  editor  did  not 
reply  to  the  urgency  for  "  local  copee." 

"  Hey,  boy,"  he  said  irritably,  "  always  un- 
der foot !  "  Ned  fancied  that  the  editor  would 
prefer  that  he  should  not  have  heard  the  re- 
porter's assignment. 

But  this  was  no  "scoop,"  the  boy  argued 
sagely.  The  detail  of  the  examining  trial 
would  be  in  all  the  other  papers  in  the  morn- 
ing. And  a  bail-bond  could  no  more  be  hid- 
den than  a  city  that  is  set  on  a  hill. 

He  fancied  later  that  an  effort  was  made 
in  the  editorial  departments  of  the  paper  to 
allay  his  suspicions  that  aught  unusual  was 
perceived  about  the  affair.  Nothing  more 
was  asked  of  him,  nor  mentioned  in  his  pre- 


THE  CHAMPION  211 

sence.  The  editors  and  the  elder  members  of 
the  reportorial  staff  maintained  without  appar- 
ent strain  this  check  upon  their  personal  and 
professional  curiosity.  But  he  could  detect 
the  "  cub-reporters/'  the  devil's  natural  ene- 
mies, looking  at  him  sometimes  with  an  eager 
greed  to  discuss  the  matter  with  him  that 
could  not  he  disguised.  "  Like  a  dog  at  a 
bone,"  thought  Ned,  in  dismay.  For  he  real- 
ized that  the  editors  had  serious  purposes  in 
this  scheming  silence.  They  evidently  desired 
that  he  should  not  take  alarm  prematurely, 
and,  reporting  from  the  paper  on  his  own 
account,  instead  of  for  it,  convey  warnings  to 
others  of  the  storm  brewing  there. 

Their  caution,  however,  did  not  extend  to  the 
composing-room.  They  regarded  the  printers 
as  in  some  sort  appurtenances  of  those  pre- 
cincts and  with  no  functions  nor  interests  be- 
yond,—  the  mere  tongue  as  it  were  of  the 
paper,  while  the  editorial  force  represented 
the  subtler  and  essential  powers  of  speech.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  the  compositors  took 
no  such  inarticulate  view  of  themselves.  Ned 


212  THE  CHAMPION 

heard  much  in  these  days  among  the  cases 
which  he  could  not  understand  and  which 
therefore  made  him  wince.  The  printers  never 
tired  of  asking  questions  about  the  unexpected 
bail,  even  when  at  work,  thus  infringing  the 
rule  of  comparative  silence  usually  preserved. 
They  maintained,  however,  an  affectation  of 
the  most  careless  and  casual  interest,  pausing 
in  the  midst  of  an  interrogatory,  for  instance, 
to  slip  the  last  stick  off  upon  the  galley,  and 
not  resuming  till  the  type  was  locked  to  take 
the  galley  proof.  They  received  his  replies 
with  sly  winks  at  each  other,  significant  leers, 
and  similar  demonstrations,  until  the  boy,  be- 
wildered and  angry,  grew  sullen  and  would  not 
answer  at  all.  He  perceived  in  dismay  that 
his  silence  added  to  their  excitement  and  in- 
terest, and  he  began  to  believe  that  they  too 
entertained  strange  suspicions  about  the  affair 
of  the  bail-bond.  He  discovered  that  they 
made  an  effort  to  sound  Peter  Bateman  and  to 
find  out  from  him  if  he  knew  anything  of  the 
mysterious  reason  which  actuated  Ned's  sure- 
ties in  going  on  his  bail-bond  and  thus  effect- 


THE  CHAMPION  213 

ing  his  release  from  jail,  where  otherwise  he 
must  have  languished  for  many  weary  months. 
Peter  'Bateman's  domestic  relations  were 
such  as  to  prevent  him  from  being  altogether 
secure  or  happy  in  the  time  intervening  be- 
tween Ned's  committal  and  trial,  even  if  he  had 
not  dreaded  the  ordeal  of  testifying  again  and 
in  the  criminal  court.  The  Bateman  family 
were  under  no  illusions  concerning  him,  al- 
though they  did  not  dream  that  he  had  delib- 
erately borne  false  witness  against  his  former 
friend,  but  they  thought  his  rectitude  was  of 
that  nature  and  tenuity  to  be  judiciously 
fortified,  and  many  were  the  lectures  unceas- 
ingly dinned  into  his  unwilling  ears  on  the 
evils  of  lying,  and  the  hard  fate  of  the  liar 
both  in  this  world  and  the  next.  Xnowing 
as  he  did  that  he  had  already  deeply  involved 
himself,  these  were  hard  things  to  hear,  and 
under  the  menace  of  the  open  word  and  the 
secret  thought  Pete  fell  away  till  his  contour 
no  longer  resembled  the  Bologna  sausage  as 
of  yore  !  He  lay  awake  at  night  and  he  wept 
much  behind  the  stove  during  the  day.  He 


214  THE  CHAMPION 

almost  felt  that  if  he  had  another  chance  he 
would  actually  tell  the  truth  !  Second  chances, 
however,  are  rare  in  this  world,  and  the  inexor- 
able law,  in  particular,  holds  out  few  opportu- 
nities for  changing  one's  mind.  His  father 
and  mother  and  grandfather  were  afraid  to 
trust  him  out  of  their  sight,  not  knowing 
what  he  might  be  at.  Under  the  circum- 
stances they  could  not  say  that  he  had  done 
aught  that  was  implicating,  but  they  knew 
Pete  of  old  and  would  hardly  have  been  sur- 
prised at  any  development  which  would  in- 
volve him  and  release  Ned  from  the  trouble. 
They  berated  Ned,  notwithstanding,,  with- 
out limit,  citing  what  he  must  have  been  to 
reach  at  last  the  fate  at  hand  for  him  now. 
And  so  deceitful !  they  would  exclaim  in 
horror. 

"  Ned  seemed  lots  more  reliable  than  our 
Petey  !  At  a  pinch  I  'd  ruther  have  trusted 
Ned  in  the  cake-shop  than  Petey,"  Mrs.  Bate- 
man  would  declare. 

"  I  would  n't  trust  Pete  there  nohow,  — 
without  he  wore  a  muzzle ! "  said  Pete's 


THE  CHAMPION  215 

grandfather,  who  was  the  proprietor  of  a  little 
bakery,  and  Pete  was  not  so  fat  for  nothing  ! 
He  had  not  the  heart  now  to  purloin  so 
much  as  a  macaroon.  No  murderer  ever 
dreaded  an  encounter  with  the  ghost  of  the 
defunct  victim  more  quailingly  than  Pete 
feared  meeting  Ned.  He  lived  too  in  absolute 
terror  of  the  junior  "  typos  "  and  galley-boys, 
who  he  fancied  had  entered  into  a  conspiracy 
to  decoy  him  out  and  thrash  him  by  way  of 
partisanship  for  Ned,  for  now  and  again  Pete 
contemplated  the  unvarnished  truth  and  was 
for  the  nonce  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  only 
his  own  guilty  conscience  and  Ned  were  aware 
that  he  had  sworn  falsely  and  maliciously  in 
the  effort  to  compass  the  ruin  of  his  friend. 
So  often,  however,  did  some  fellow  employee 
of  Ned's  come  to  the  shop  that  it  might 
well  warrant  Pete's  conclusion.  He  had  per- 
suaded his  grandfather  to  let  him  "  tend 
shop  "  as  a  subterfuge  to  keep  him  indoors 
and  protect  him  from  the  chance  encounter 
he  feared.  He  had  made  the  most  sacred 
promises  in  regard  to  devouring  the  stock, 


216  THE  CHAMPION 

for  Pete's  capacities  in  this  line  were  for- 
midable, and  so  far  he  had  kept  his  pledge, 
for  his  appetite  had  vanished.  "  I  'd  ruther 
ye  had  teeth  like  mine/'  his  grandfather  had 
said,  showing  an  eight-dollar  set  in  a  grin,  "  for 
then  ye  could  hypothecate  'em,  and  with  that 
security  in  the  safe  I  'd  feel  more  sure  o'  ye  !  " 
But  Pete  had  begun  to  repent  of  his  bargain, 
now  that  the  curiosity  of  the  composing-room 
had  turned  in  his  direction.  He  could  some- 
times have  screamed  with  affright  when  the 
little  bell  on  the  door  of  the  cake-shop  tinkled 
as  it  opened,  announcing  an  entrance,  and, 
sent  from  the  back  room  to  wait  on  the  cus- 
tomer, he  would  behold  on  the  other  side  of 
the  counter  the  round,  rosy  face  and  preter- 
naturally  sharp,  alert  eyes  of  one  of  the  cub- 
printers.  But  for  the  counter  between  them 
Pete  could  not  have  stood  his  ground.  The 
junior  employees  of  the  paper  developed  a 
taste  for  tarts  that  must  have  wrought  sto- 
machic havoc  and  financial  wreck.  In  these 
crucial  interviews  the  vacillating  gourmand 
invariably  found  it  difficult  to  determine  ex- 
actly what  it  was  that  he  wanted  to  eat. 


THE  CHAMPION  217 

"  Cream-puffs,  —  have  you  heard  anything 
more  about  the  fire  ?  " 

"  Naw !  an'  don't  wanter !  "  replies  Pete. 

66  Not  those,  —  some  with  chocolate  a-top. 
Who  do  you  thhik  set  the  theatre  afire  ?  " 

"  Dunno  !  Chocolate  ain't  never  on  cream- 
puffs,  nohow." 

"Well—  what's  that  then?  Do  you 
think  that  Ned  knows  who  burnt  it  ?  " 

"I  dunno  nuthin'  'bout  Ned!  Them? 
just  plain  chocolate  cake." 

"Well  —  you  swore  to  lots  about  Ned, 
considering  you  don't  '  know  nothing  '  about 
him.  I  wonder  he  does  n't  thrash  you !  " 

"  He  dassent !  "  cries  Pete  tumultuously. 

Whereupon  the  cub  holds  up  his  chin  and 
looks  critically  over  the  counter  at  Pete,  who 
'  sidles  back  and  forth  under  this  menacing 
gaze,  and  wonders  if  the  cub  can  jump  over 
the  counter,  and  if  anybody  —  grandpa,  even 
"  mommer  "  —  is  within  call ! 

"  Why  don't  you  thrash  Ned,  then !  They 
tell  me  he  called  you  a  liar  in  open  court ! 
And  he  is  a  small  boy." 


218  THE  CHAMPION 

Pete  begins  to  nod  his  head  menacingly. 
"  He  '11  git  somethin'  worse  'n  the  lie  when 
his  trial  comes  off  !  " 

"  Where  did  he  ever  know  the  men  who 
bailed  him,  anyhow  ?  " 

"  In  the  theayter,  mebbe,  —  they  all  burnt 
it  together  !  "  retorts  Pete  hardily. 

"  LooJc-a-here  !  you  seem  to  know  a  deal, 
my  hearty  !  More  than  is  healthy  !  "  declares 
the  cub,  with  the  affectation  of  a  long,  specu- 
lative look,  which  wilts  Pete. 

66  Oh,  take  your  cake  an'  go  along !  "  ex- 
claims Pete.  "  I  ain't  goin'  to  talk  no  mo' !  " 

"  Just  like  Ned  !  He  does  n't  talk  any 
nowadays.  For  the  same  reason,  I  reckon. 
Might  tell  too  much  !  " 

"  Oh,  take  your  cake  an'  go  ! "  screams 
Pete  in  desperation. 

"  Where  is  it  ?  Oh,  on  the  counter  ;  well, 
—  is  that  coffee  cake  or  currant  bun  ?  One 
thing  is  certain  —  there  will  be  a  reporter  at 
the  trial ! "  the  cub-printer  adds  with  a  men- 
acing inflection,  as  one  should  say,  "  The  judg- 
ment day  is  a-coming  along !  " 


THE  CHAMPION  219 

Under  this  stress  Pete  tries  to  rally,  realiz- 
ing that  he  is  even  now  metaphorically  face 
to  face  with  the  public.  "Must  I  wrap  up 
the  coffee  cake  ?  "  with  a  smile  that  would  be 
an  appropriate  concomitant  of  a  raging  tooth- 
ache. 

"  About  as  well  as  anything/'  and  with  a 
look  indicative  of  the  boxer  latent  in  every  man 
and  a  disposition  to  trounce  Pete,  which  with 
difficulty  he  holds  in  leash,  the  cub-printer 
goes  his  way  to  his  fellows  of  the  composing- 
room  and  reports  no  progress. 

Again  and  again  scenes  almost  exactly  simi- 
lar to  this  took  place,  with  only  a  change  as 
to  the  identity  of  Pete's  interlocutor,  and  as 
often  he  pleaded  with  his  parents  to  be  re- 
leased from  the  duties  he  had  been  so  anx- 
ious to  assume  in  "  tendin'  shop."  But  they 
believed,  and  not  without  reason,  that  the 
street  awaited  Pete's  idle  time  and  there  mis- 
chief lurked,  and  thus  with  his  gnawing  con- 
science and  his  miserable  fears  and  his  sadly 
jocose  martyrdom  he  counted  the  days,  and 
repented  of  the  past,  and  dreaded  the  future, 


220  THE   CHAMPION 

and  kept  a  lively  and  anxious   lookout   for 
Ned! 

He  was  but  secondary  indeed  in  Ned's  con- 
sideration. Ned  did  not  even  ask  what  tran- 
spired in  the  visits  which  he  knew  the  galley- 
boys  and  printer-cubs  made  to  the  Bateman 
shop,  when  they  returned,  without  news  indeed, 
but  munching  their  purchases  from  paper  bags 
with  the  name  of  the  elder  Bateman  printed 
thereon.  Why  should  they  go  ?  What  dis- 
covery could  the  elder  printers  anticipate  in 
sending  them  on  these  bootless  errands  ?  The 
attitude  of  mind  of  the  printers  seemed  to  him 
the  more  formidable  because  he  knew  it  was 
shared  in  the  editorial  rooms,  where,  however, 
all  its  manifestations  were  carefully  cloaked 
from  him.  Yet  he  often  noted  indicia  which 
convinced  him  that  the  suspicions  of  the  edi- 
torial force  were  by  no  means  allayed.  He 
could  not  divine  these  suspicions  nor  whom 
they  concerned.  He  grew  more  alarmed,  and 
a  conversation  which  chanced  to  come  to  his 
ears  one  day  occasioned  him  much  troubled 
meditation. 


THE  CHAMPION  221 

He  was  going  into  the  "  rinktum  "  of  the 
editor-in-chief  for  copy.  The  door  stood 
slightly  ajar.  He  made  no  noise  and  for 
some  moments  his  entrance  was  unnoticed. 
The  crack  reporter  of  the  paper  in  a  mysteri- 
ous undertone  was  detailing  something  about 
the  burned  theatre  to  the  editor-in-chief. 
There  were  present  other  editors  of  the  vari- 
ous departments.  Their  faces  all  wore  that 
excited,  absorbed  look  which  Ned  had  no- 
ticed whenever  the  name  of  Gorham  was 
mentioned.  One  hasty  scribe,  in  leaving  off 
writing  to  come  to  listen,  had  thrust  his  pen 
behind  his  ear  with  an  eager  awkwardness 
that  left  a  smear  upward  from  the  eyebrow 
and  gave  him  an  unwonted  Mephistophelian 
aspect. 

"  Gorham  says  he  is  not  going  to  rebuild 
his  theatre,"  continued  the  reporter. 

The  ensuing  silence  had  all  the  effect  of  an 
interrogation  point. 

"  Says  he  is  going  to  build  stores  only, 
strictly  commercial  purposes,"  pursued  the 
interviewer. 


222  THE  CHAMPION 

There  was  a  murmur  of  surprise,  which 
could  not,  however,  be  construed  as  an  inter- 
ruption. 

"  He  said  he  had  concluded  to  go  out  of 
the  theatrical  business,  —  he  had  got  sick  of 
it ; '  I  asked  why,  and  —  and  "  —  The  young 
man  broke  into  a  laugh  of  mingled  scorn  and 
enjoyment.  It  was  expressive,  but  clogged 
utterance. 

"  Why  ?  "  demanded  the  coterie  in  chorus. 

"  His  mother  was  a  Methodist,"  exclaimed 
the  young  sprig  with  another  burst  of  hilar- 
ity. 

A  moment  of  dumb  amazement. 

"  Has  he  just  found  that  out  ?  "  asked  the 
editor  at  last. 

The  writer  who  had  smeared  his  face  with 
ink  accented  its  effect  with  a  sneer.  "  Just 
found  it  out  when  he  has  gotten  rid  of  a 
ruinous  piece  of  property,  converted  into  a 
splendid  commercial  building  site,  and  with 
his  pockets  full  of  spot  cash,  his  insurance." 

"  Ah,  but  his  pockets  are  not  full  of  cash," 
said  the  interviewer.  "  I  was  just  coming  to 


THE  CHAMPION  223 

that.  The  insurance  companies  haven't  as 
yet  ponied  up.  They  have  paid  nothing. 
They  seem  '  rather  slow/  he  said.  He  sup- 
poses there  must  be  'a  little  hitch'  some- 
where, —  it  is  a  large  sum  with  each  company, 
-  but  he  expects  it  presently.  That  is  what 
he  said.  Upon  my  word  I  can't  make  him 
out.  He  told  it  all  as  innocently  as  a  baby." 

Ned  could  not  make  them  out.  He  hardly 
felt  that  he  understood  the  language  in  which 
they  spoke,  so  little  meaning  did  their  words 
convey  to  him.  He  puzzled  over  this  conver- 
sation often,  but  without  result. 

He  encountered  this  spirit  even  at  the  fore- 
man's house,  where  formerly  he  had  loved  to 
go.  When  he  had  first  been  employed  at 
the  office  the  foreman  had  chanced  to  send 
him  to  his  dwelling  for  some  forgotten  article, 
and  Bob  Platt,  who  was  a  breezy,  jovial  soul 
and  keenly  relished  a  jest  or  quip  with  scant 
regard  to  its  point  or  quality,  if  but  it  was 
merry,  found  much  enjoyment  in  the  account 
which  he  received  of  the  country  child's  first 
encounter  with  a  parrot,  an  honored  member 


224  THE  CHAMPION 

of  the  Platt  household.  Thereafter  he  en- 
couraged Ned's  presence  there  that  he  might 
himself  have  a  laugh  at  the  boy's  overpow- 
ering astonishment  at  the  loquacious  accom- 
plishments of  the  bird  and  his  simple-minded 
horror  of  its  profanity. 

"  You  see  I  ought  to  have  sent  it  to  Sun- 
day-school when  it  was  young !  "  Bob  Platt 
seriously  explained,  and  the  new  importation 
from  the  backwoods  believed  this  at  the  time, 
as  he  would  then  have  believed  anything  that 
Bob  Platt  chose  to  tell  him,  especially  about 
that  lusus  naturce,  a  bird  that  could  talk  and 
swear  ! 

Later  he  came  to  know  Bob  Platt  as  "a 
mighty  kind  man,  but  will  have  his  joke  ! " 
This  just  appraisement  was  brought  about 
chiefly  through  Mrs.  Platt's  interference  to 
prevent  the  devil  from  being  "  bedeviled  "  be- 
yond the  point  of  comfort  and  good-nature. 
She  would  not  permit  his  mystification  about 
city  ways  and  his  implicit  reliance  on  the  gay 
fables  invented  by  Bob  Platt,  which  Ned 
would  have  accepted  as  if  they  were  gospel 
truth. 


THE  CHAMPION  225 

"  Don't  let  him  humbug  you,  Eddy  !  "  she 
would  interrupt  warningly,  at  the  very  crisis 
of  the  fun. 

For  Bob  Platt  was  by  no  means  "  boss  "  at 
home  !  His  ascendency  ceased  at  the  threshold 
of  the  composing-room.  Mrs.  Platt  gave 
Ned  good,  sound  information  and  admoni- 
tion to  counteract  the  wondrous  stories  of 
the  foreman,  which  the  credulous  boy  was 
prepared  to  swallow  whole  coming  from  that 
source,  so  great  was  his  confidence  in  Bob 
Platt,  and  to  say  truth  his  serious-minded  wife 
spoiled  many  a  good  and  harmless  joke. 

Mrs.  Platt  gradually  became  a  genuine 
partisan  of  the  lad.  His  kindly  disposition 
was  early  appreciated  by  her.  Indeed,  only 
the  day  after  he  had  first  been  sent  there  he 
had  stopped  on  his  way  down  town,  for  her 
neat  home  lay  in  a  quiet  cul-de-sac,  with  half 
a  dozen  other  pretty  cottages,  opening  off  a 
genteel  street  between  the  dreary  tenement 
region  where  he  lived  and  the  business  por- 
tion of  the  city.  After  a  neighborly  country 
fashion  he  wanted  to  know  if  she  had  any 


226  THE  CHAMPION 

"  yerrands  "  which  he  might  do  for  her  on 
his  way  back,  "  bein'  as  you  ain't  got  no 
boys,  an'  nothin'  but  girls,"  he  explained 
sympathetically  and  with  an  expression  of 
genuine  pity. 

Despite  her  intolerance  of  jokes  at  his  ex- 
pense Mrs.  Platt  thought  his  commiseration 
very  funny,  but  she  had  her  own  reasons  to 
feel  deeply  the  lad's  simple  effort  at  courtesy 
and  proffer  of  kind  offices.  Her  heart  was 
the  more  tender  in  the  knowledge  that  she 
had  not  long  to  live.  A  persistent  bronchial 
affection,  with  which  she  had  warred  for  years, 
which  had  kept  them  poor,  devouring  money 
and  care  and  time  like  some  veritable  mon- 
ster, had,  still  unappeased,  developed  into 
consumption,  now  so  unmistakable  that  even 
Bob  Platt's  laugh  was  often  petrified  on  his 
jovial  face  by  the  perception  of  the  fierce  and 
ghastly  fate  that  stood  awaiting  his  house- 
hold in  the  near  future.  She  accepted  Ned's 
politeness  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  had  been 
offered,  and  sometimes  made  him  proud  and 
pleased  in  executing  some  trifling  commission. 


THE  CHAMPION  227 

He  came  at  last  to  be  more  genuinely  useful, 
and  often  was  intrusted  with  the  escort  of  the 
four  small  girls  of  the  family  to  the  Sunday- 
school  ;  and  by  this  means  Mrs.  Platt  got  in 
some  missionary  work,  for  at  that  Sunday- 
school  Ned  heard  of  many  comfortable  things 
his  spirit  had  not  known  before. 

The  four  Platt  girls  had  also  some  secular 
pleasures  in  which  he  participated,  and  the 
chief  of  these  was  called  by  them  "  viewin' 
the  percession  !  "  Never  was  there  a  muster  of 
militia  or  a  parade  of  firemen  or  a  wonderful 
exhibition  of  bicyclists  through  the  streets 
that  they  were  not  present  to  see.  Whenever 
the  exaction  of  the  payment  of  some  gro- 
tesque election  bet  set  the  community  agog 
over  the  spectacle  of  one  commercial  mag- 
nate propelling  another  in  a  wheelbarrow 
through  the  principal  thoroughfares,  preceded 
by  a  band  of  music,  and  with  all  the  teeth  of 
the  town  a-grin  in  evidence  of  relish,  the 
keenest  cackle  of  callow  laughter  came  from 
the  four  Platts  and  their  attendant  printer's 
devil.  Never  a  circus  tent  was  pitched  and 


228  THE  CHAMPION 

the  elephant  made  the  tour  of  the  town  that 
Ned,  with  each  hand  held  tight  by  the  smaller 
girls  while  the  two  elder  followed  close  be- 
hind within  clutch  of  his  protective  jacket, 
did  not  hie  himself  with  his  charges  to  some 
coigne  of  vantage  particularly  adapted  to  joy- 
ously see  all  that  there  was  to  be  seen.  It 
was  always  Mrs.  Platt  who  thanked  the  boy, 
but  it  was  Bob  who  owed  him  special  grati- 
tude on  these  occasions,  for  but  for  this  sub- 
stitute he  must  needs  have  played  squire  of 
dames  himself,  for  the  Platt  girls  would  take 
no  denial,  and  their  father  had  long  ago  lost 
a  living  interest  in  elephants. 

Nowadays,  however,  Ned  was  aware  that  it 
was  Bob  Platt  himself  who  took  special  note 
of  him  whenever  he  chanced  to  appear  at  the 
house,  far  more  rarely  though  it  was  than 
heretofore ;  for  the  boy  was  both  proud  and 
sensitive,  and  he  feared  lest  some  allusion  to 
his  arrest  and  that  terrible  day  behind  the 
bars  escape  these  friends  of  happier  times. 

"I  want  to  set  Ned  to  talking,"  Platt 
would  urge  when  his  wife  would  object  to 
his  interference  with  the  lad. 


THE  CHAMPION  229 

"  No !  you  get  no  '  scoops  '  here  !  "  she 
would  declare.  For  she  believed  that  Bob 
Platt  would  not  spare  his  grandmother  had 
the  ancient  dame  been  capable  of  furnishing 
the  paper  with  a  genuine  "  scoop." 

She  had  herself  earnestly  remonstrated  with 
Ned  and  urged  him  to  make  a  clean  breast  of 
the  whole  affair,  and  she  believed  faithfully 
that  the  boy  had  been  terrorized  into  silence 
rather  than  was  guilty  of  crime.  When  he 
resisted  her  arguments  by  simply  maintaining 
a  dumb  persistence,  she  felt  it  was  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  torment  him  no  more.  "  Give  him 
a  chance  to  recover  his  spirits  and  his  confi- 
dence in  people  !  His  whole  life  is  at  stake, 
and  he  shan't  be  scooped  just  for  the  paper !  " 

But  she  could  not  prevent  the  parrot  from 
calling  "  Fi-ah  !  Fi-ah  !  Fi-ah  !  "  as  it  often 
did,  nor  hinder  Ned's  guilty  start  at  the  sound. 
It  would  suddenly  rouse  him  from  his  reverie, 
when  he  sat  on  the  steps  of  the  little  side 
porch  where  the  parrot's  cage  hung  in  a  hon- 
eysuckle vine,  and  Bob  Platt  would  mark  the 
demonstration  with  an  unconsciously  knowing 


230  THE  CHAMPION 

look  as  he  smoked  his  pipe  beneath  the  flow- 
ering tendrils. 

The  parrot  had  no  sinister  intention  in  the 
matter.  The  call  was  only  one  of  its  mimetic 
accomplishments  acquired  by  much  repetition, 
for  there  was  an  engine-house  only  a  block 
away,  and  the  bird  had  been  accustomed  to 
this  shrill  alarm  for  years. 

Often  Ned  had  beeja  to  this  engine-house 
when  the  men  were  at  their  drill,  and  he  gen- 
erally escorted  the  four  Platt  girls,  who  could 
not  squeal  loud  enough  nor  shrill  enough  to 
express  their  admiration,  —  not  of  the  splen- 
didly efficient  men,  swinging  down  so  quickly 
into  place,  all  equipped  and  ready  in  one  swift 
moment  as  it  seemed,  but  of  the  horses  and 
their  preternatural  wisdom  in  taking  up  their 
proper  position  of  their  own  initiative,  with- 
out a  word  of  command,  at  the  familiar  sig- 
nal. Of  these  horses,  the  favorite  was  "  John 
Smith,"  an  ancient  warrior  indeed,  who  had 
fought  fire  many  a  year  before  any  of  the 
Platt  girls  were  born  !  Superannuated  in  fact 
he  was,  and  had  been  sold  to  a  dairyman. 


THE  CHAMPION  231 

He  himself  declined  the  transfer,  and  came 
back  to  the  engine-house  at  every  alarm  in 
the  district,  scattering  the  cans  from  the 
wagon  as  he  galloped  till  the  streets  seemed 
to  be  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  His  loy- 
alty carried  the  day  and  he  was  easily  repur- 
chased, the  milkman  declaring  he  must  give 
up  either  the  horse  or  the  dairy.  At  each  drill 
the  Platt  girls  sued  for  permission  to  pat  the 
triumphant  animal,  albeit  he  took  no  more 
notice  of  their  little  rosy  paws  than  of  so  many 
apple-blossoms.  This  had  always  been  an  en- 
joyable occasion  to  Ned,  who  also  admired 
deeply  the  veteran  "  John  Smith  ;  "  but  now 
he  declined  to  go  with  the  girls. 

"  I  want  to  see  an'  hear  no  more  about  a 
fire  while  I  live !  "  he  declared  doggedly. 

"Fi-ah!  Fi-ah !  Fi-ah!"  clamored  Poll, 
catching  at  the  word,  fluttering  her  green  and 
gold  wings,  and  turning  her  head,  with  its 
crooked  beak,  downward  while  she  held  on  to 
her  perch  with  her  hooking  claws. 

Ned  winced  anew  at  the  sharp  cry,  and  Bob 
Platt  looked  significantly  at  his  wife.  "  Try 


232  THE  ,  CHAMPION 

him  !  "  the  look  said  openly.  "  You  can  get 
something  out  of  him  !  " 

But  it  was  needless  for  Ned  to  brace  him- 
self for  resistance.  Mrs.  Platt  would  not  in- 
terfere. Her  kindness  to  him  was  not  dimin- 
ished even  after  she  had  been  to  see  his 
mother  for  the  first  time  and  had  experienced 
a  cold  reception.  She  had  heard  from  Ned 
in  the  early  days  of  her  acquaintance  with  the 
boy  that  his  mother  held  aloof  from  strangers, 
and  she  had  approved  of  this  trait  in  the 
simple  country  woman  transplanted  to  a  new 
sphere,  and  said  that  she  thought  the  better  of 
Mrs.  Macdonald  for  it.  Perhaps  she  did  not 
expect  this  reserve  in  her  turn,  when  she  went 
to  urge  the  brightest  view,  and  counsel  hope 
and  cheerfulness,  and  adduce  reasons  to  be- 
lieve that  all  the  disaster  would  be  finally  ex- 
plained and  smoothed  away.  She  thought, 
however,  that  the  attitude  of  Ned's  mother 
was  not  unnatural,  and  that  her  experience 
was  not  calculated  to  foster  much  confidence 
in  city  people  and  city  ways. 

Despite  Mrs.  Platt's  caution  and  resolve  to 


THE  CHAMPION  -      233 

report,  as  it  were,  naught  of  the  details  of  her 
visit.  Bob  Platt  contrived  to  ascertain  from  his 
wife  the  fact  that  Ned's  mother  knew  no 
more  than  they  did  of  the  whole  strange  af- 
fair, that  Ned  had  kept  his  own  counsel,  and 
that  she  had  evidently  never  before  heard  the 
names  of  the  two  men  who  had  given  bail  for 
his  appearance  at  the  next  term  of  the  Crim- 
inal Court,  and  thus  released  him  from  jail. 

All  this  served  to  increase  the  strength  of 
the  foreman's  suspicions.  Ned  grew  conscious 
of  this  accession  of  wonder  and  doubt  that 
began  to  envelop  him  like  a  veritable  atmo- 
sphere. So  strong  were  these  suspicions  that 
they  began  to  take  on  the  quality  of  a  grim 
certainty  and  definite  menace.  He  was  aware 
that  they  concerned  others  even  more  than 
himself,  but  who  and  how  he  could  not  for  his 
life  divine.  He  often  went  over  in  his  mind 
the  details  of  all  the  conversations  he  had 
heard  ;  he  recapitulated  the  impressions  made 
upon  him  by  gestures,  significant  glances, 
all  the  indicia  of  unexpressed  sentiment,  and 
strove  to  deduce  the  meaning  of  it  all  and  its 


234  THE  CHAMPION 

effect  on  the  future.  But  these  speculations 
at  last  availed  naught,  and  as  the  time  for 
his  trial  approached  the  recollection  was  dis- 
placed by  his  anxiety  on  his  own  account, 
and  the  deep  despondency  which  the  sight 
of  his  mother's  distress  induced  in  him. 

One  evening  —  the  long  lingering  summer 
twilight  still  lay  upon  the  roofs  and  spires  — 
he  strolled  into  the  composing-room.  It  was 
quite  deserted,  —  a  gas-jet  here  and  there, 
burning  dim  and  low,  only  accented  the  gloom. 
Through  the  open  window  he  could  hear  the 
gay  chorus  of  an  opera  al  fresco  in  a  neigh- 
boring beer-garden.  In  emulation,  perhaps, 
a  mocking-bird  in  a  cage  in  a  barber- shop 
below  mounted  his  perch  and  filled  the  gas- 
lit  atmosphere,  redolent  of  bay  rum  and  eau 
de  cologne,  with  his  soft  ecstatic  roundelay. 
Ned  soon  tired  of  looking  out  of  the  window. 
He  had  not  read  at  all  of  late  ;  he  had  been 
so  absorbed  by  his  troubles  that  he  had  not 
cared  to  keep  posted  with  the  times.  As  to 
self-education,  of  which  he  had  once  been  so 
ambitious,  he  asked  himself  bitterly  what  was 


THE  CHAMPION  235 

the  use  of  education  to  a  boy  who  might  spend 
years  and  years  —  the  best  years  of  his  life 
—  behind  the  bars. 

This  evening,  however,  the  old  craving  came 
back  to  him  in  a  measure.  He  stood  irresolute 
for  a  moment.  Then  he  turned  to  the  case 
near  by.  He  was  not  very  expert  in  decipher- 
ing written  characters.  He  often  sought  by 
practice  to  remedy  this  deficiency.  He  found 
generally  ample  exercise  for  this  inability  in 
the  crabbed  chirography  of  the  editor-in-chief. 
Now  as  he  turned  up  the  gas  he  recognized 
the  august  scrawl  of  that  magnate  in  the 
"  copy  "  perched  above  the  case. 

The  next  instant  his  heart  gave  a  great 
bound.  His  blood  rushed  to  his  head,  beat- 
ing tumultuously  for  a  moment ;  then  it  re- 
ceded, leaving  him  pale  and  dizzy,  and  feeling 
as  if  he  were  likely  to  faint. 

For  he  saw  written  there  the  name  of  the 
manager-owner  of  the  theatre,  coupled  with 
an  odious  accusation  of  burning  the  building, 
which  no  one  could  know  so  well  as  Ned  was 
odiously  false. 


236  THE  CHAMPION 

Ned  now  learned  for  the  first  time  that  the 
hot-headed  Gorham  had  taken  offense  at  some 
expressions  in  relation  to  the  affair  which  the 
paper,  surcharged  with  its  grave  suspicions, 
had  inadvertently  let  fall.  He  had  construed 
this  as  a  reflection  upon  himself.  Arrogant 
in  his  innocence,  he  had  published  a  card  — 
somewhat  braggadocio  in  its  tone,  it  must  be 
confessed  —  in  which  he  defied  the  editor  to 
speak  out  his  suspicions  plainly,  or  be  branded 
forever  as  a  coward  and  a  calumniator. 

It  was  the  editor's  reply  which  Ned  had 
chanced  upon.  The  newspaper,  through  its 
many  resources  of  procuring  information,  had 
learned  that  the  insurance  companies  were  on 
the  point  of  formally  refusing  to  make  good 
the  loss  on  the  score  of  fraud ;  legal  proceed- 
ings would  doubtless  be  instituted  on  both 
sides.  The  time  for  the  paper's  "  scoop  "  had 
arrived  opportunely  with  the  moment  when  it 
was  necessary  for  the  editor  to  answer  the 
allegations  against  himself. 

He  had  spoken,  therefore,  and  spoken  to 
the  point.  It  had  made  a  very  disastrous  show- 


THE  CHAMPION  237 

ing  for  the  owner,  although  the  editor  avoided 
distinct  averments.  He  permitted  it  to  be 
seen  that  the  manager  had  given  cause  for  the 
strongest  inferences  against  him,  even  to  the 
extent  that  he  had  procured  the  destruction  of 
his  own  theatre  for  the  sake  of  securing  the 
money  for  which  it  was  insured.  The  point 
that  struck  Ned's  attention  chiefly  was  the 
declaration  that  the  boy  who  had  been  accused 
of  complicity  in  the  crime  and  arrested  had 
been  bailed  by  parties  who  were  total  strangers 
to  the  prisoner  and  all  his  friends.  When  in- 
terviewed, one  of  these  sureties,  a  well-known 
broker,  had  given  the  most  casual  answers, 
excusing  himself  by  reason  of  a  flurry  in  cer- 
tain stocks  in  which  his  customers  were  largely 
interested,  and  which  absorbed  his  attention. 
The  other  bondsman,  a  brother  of  the  broker, 
admitted  frankly  and  boldly  that  he  had  never 
seen  the  boy  till  he  went  on  his  bond,  and 
"  would  n't  know  him  now  from  a  gate-post ;  " 
and  although  he  and  his  brother  had  acted 
entirely  on  their  own  responsibility  in  the  mat- 
ter and  would  make  good  the  bond  should  the 


238  THE  CHAMPION 

boy  forfeit  the  bail,  they  undertook  the  lia- 
bility solely  to  oblige  Mr.  Gorham,  their  close 
friend,  who  did  not  desire  to  keep  so  young  a 
lad  imprisoned  so  long  a  time,  while  there  was 
still  doubt  of  his  guilt,  and  who  had  even 
offered  to  stand  in  behind  them  and  pay  the 
money  himself  should  the  boy  give  them  the 
slip.  Thus,  the  editor  argued,  Mr.  Gorham 
played  the  double  part  of  prosecutor  and  in 
effect  bondsman  for  the  prisoner. 

Ned's  hand  shook.  So  it  was  to  Manager 
Gorham  he  was  indebted  for  his  liberty.  He 
could  not  for  his  life  imagine  why  Gorham 
had  come  to  his  relief.  But  he  was  sharp 
enough  to  see,  when  it  had  been  put  before 
the  mind  in  this  plain  way,  that  most  outsid- 
ers would  take  the  same  view  of  it  that  the 
editor  did ;  it  was  evidently  the  journal's 
opinion  that  the  manager  feared  that  the  boy, 
if  refused  bail,  would  speak  out  and  accuse 
him  of  himself  burning  or  procuring  the  de- 
struction of  the  building.  The  editor  con- 
cluded, perhaps  by  way  of  vindicating  his  own 
courage  and  "  taking  the  dare,"  by  advising 


THE  CHAMPION  239 

the  insurance  companies  to  pay  nothing  till 
their  investigations  should  have  been  pushed 
in  this  direction,  and  he  recommended  the 
owner  of  the  theatre  to  the  kind  attention 
of  the  grand  jury  and  the  attorney  for  the 
State. 

Ned,  in  an  agony  of  remorse  and  anxiety, 
clung  to  the  case,  almost  overpowered  by  the 
realization  how  evil  a  thing  concealment  is, 
and  what  ruin  it  had  wrought  here.  The  in- 
cendiaries, he  reflected,  had  doubtless  made 
their  escape  in  this  long  interval.  He  and 
his  fears  and  his  groundless  reasoning  were 
responsible  for  that,  —  for  more  !  —  for  the 
blasting  of  an  honest  man's  character  and  the 
wreck  of  his  fortune,  for  the  insurance  com- 
panies would  pay  naught !  It  seemed  a  gro- 
tesque libel  on  likelihood,  but  the  manager 
might  even  be  arrested,  tried,  and  serve  a 
long  term  in  the  penitentiary,  charged  with 
burning  his  own  house  to  defraud  the  insur- 
ance companies,  because  of  the  wickedness  of 
a  gang  of  knaves  and  a  foolish  boy's  folly. 

Ned  grew  more  and  more  alarmed  as  he 


240  THE  CHAMPION 

read  again  and  again  those  strong  logical 
statements  that  would  forever  blast  the  man 
who  had  befriended  him  at  his  utmost  need, 
for  the  paper  was  a  power  in  the  land,  and 
the  editor's  word  weighed  with  all  sorts  of 
people.  Ned  might  now  have  confessed  all,  — 
he  thought  of  this  once.  The  habit  of  con- 
cealment, however,  does  not  give  way  readily. 
It  yields  only  after  the  exhaustion  of  its  utter- 
most resources.  He  asked  himself  who  would 
now  believe  him  ?  He  was  already  accounted 
a  mere  tool  and  accomplice,  and  his  puny 
efforts  to  whitewash  such  smirches  as  those 
intricate  blots  and  tangles  of  loop-letters  had 
put  upon  the  manager's  name  would  be  ludi- 
crously futile.  He  felt  that  he  could  measure 
the  incredulity  of  the  public. 

He  could  measure,  too,  its  credulity,  alack, 
when  all  the  town  would  read  to-morrow  the 
editor's  reply ! 

The  town  never  read  it ! 

In  a  paroxysm  of  rage  and  fear  Ned  sud- 
denly clutched  the  sheet  and  thrust  it  into 
the  gas  jet.  The  blaze  leaped  up.  Distinct 


THE  CHAMPION  241 

shadows  started  forth  from  the  murky  glooms. 
The  motion  alarmed  him.  He  glanced  fear- 
fully over  his  shoulder.  He  was  still  quak- 
ing at  his  own  deed  when  the  "  copy  "  fell,  a 
cinder.  But  perhaps  his  purpose  was  not  yet 
served,  he  argued,  for  the  article  might  have 
been  set  up.  He  looked  at  the  imposing 
stone.  The  type  was  all  ready,  and  in  the 
chase,  —  the  proof  had  been  taken,  —  the  re- 
vised smirched  sheets  lay  hard  by,  all  bearing 
the  cabalistic  sign  0.  K.,  the  fiat  of  the 
press  reader. 

"  They  won't  look  at  it  again  before  the 
form  is  locked  and  goes  to  press,"  Ned  said 
tremulously,  for  an  audacious  new  idea  had 
flashed  into  his  mind.  The  article  had  com- 
pactly filled  one  third  of  a  column.  He  swept 
the  types  of  this  space  from  the  stone  and 
replaced  them  at  random  in  the  boxes.  Then 
selecting  a  larger  variety,  he  began  some  of 
the  fastest  type-setting  ever  done  in  that  com- 
posing-room. For  copy  he  had  gotten  hold 
of  a  new  prospectus  of  the  paper,  which  was 
still  in  manuscript.  Judiciously  leaded  he 


242  THE  CHAMPION 

thought  it  might  fill  the  blank  space,  and 
this  substitute  for  the  article  which  he  had 
done  away  with  he  judged  was  innocent 
enough.  He  worked  on  hard  and  desper- 
ately, —  he  did  not  know  how  long. 

At  length  he  was  slipping  the  last  "  stick  " 
off  upon  the  gaUey ;  he  hastily  shunted  the 
type  from  the  galley  to  the  stone  in  the  space 
that  the  obnoxious  editorial  had  occupied; 
he  readjusted  the  "furniture"  by  a  stroke 
of  luck,  as  it  were,  and  turning  away  to  the 
window  he  perched  himself  upon  the  sill  and 
gazed  demurely  at  the  moon  as  a  step  upon 
the  stairs  announced  an  approach. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  step  on  the  stairs  was  an  unsteady 
step.  The  foreman  reeled  into  the  room. 
Ned's  eyes  brightened.  Would  not  Bob 
Platt's  opportune  spree  seem  the  explanation 
of  any  difficulty  that  might  arise  on  account 
of  the  lost  copy,  and  also  of  any  deficiency  in 
the  type-setting  ? 

Still  he  hardly  felt  secure  from  detection 
until  he  saw  the  foreman  with  the  quoins  and 
the  shooting-stick  in  his  hand.  Not  so  tipsy 
was  Bob  Platt  that  he  was  not  now  as  always 
the  deft  and  experienced  handicraftsman.  A 
blow  from  the  mallet  here  and  a  blow  there, 
—  the  locking  was  done ;  and  Ned,  feeling 
tipsy  himself,  dizzy  with  excitement,  crept  out 
and  sat  down  on  the  dark  staircase. 

He  wished  no  one  to  hear  how  he  panted, 
for  he  could  hardly  breathe  as  he  reflected 
on  his  daring  deed.  His  eyes  were  hot ;  he 


244  THE  CHAMPION 

wanted  no  one  to  see  the  exultant  gleam  that 
was  chasing  the  fright  out  of  them. 

Now  and  then  he  squirmed  aside  to  escape 
a  big  foot  that  brought  a  burly  shadow  lum- 
bering up  the  stairs,  for  the  printers  were 
coming  in  again  ;  so  presently  were  the  latest 
dispatches  and  the  last  of  the  copy.  The 
telephone  bell  continually  jingled.  There  was 
once  more  the  stir  of  haste  and  work  and 
confusion  in  the  composing-room,  —  the  set- 
ting up  of  the  final  columns  for  the  other 
forms.  Ned  listened  occasionally,  expecting 
to  hear  his  name  called.  But  Bob  Platt  did 
not  need  him.  It  seemed  a  long  time  that  he 
sat  there,  gazing  up  through  the  narrow  stair 
window  at  the  stars,  those  fair  and  foreign 
worlds,  glittering  so  high  above  the  roofs, 
above  the  clouds,  above  the  winds. 

He  heard  now  and  then  the  agitated  voice 
of  the  telegraph  editor.  Once  a  reporter 
came  up  the  stairs  in  great  bounds  and  with 
a  momentum  as  if  he  had  been  flung  from 
a  catapult.  Doubtless  he  thought  he  had  a 
"  scoop."  "  It 's  a  fake,  I  bet,"  thought  Ned, 


THE  CHAMPION  245 

recovering  his  normal  size,  for  he  had  shrunken 
to  very  small  proportions  to  avoid  that  head- 
long rush.  He  had  the  best  of  reasons  in  his 
own  experience  to  know  how  very  thin  some 
of  these  scoops  were. 

He  realized  how  the  hour  was  wearing  on 
when  he  heard  the  rattle  of  the  mailing  wag- 
ons on  the  stones  in  the  side  street.  It  must 
be  midnight. 

Suddenly  the  thunder  of  the  printing-press 
broke  forth,  clank,  clank,  clamor  and  clank; 
The  air  was  vibrating  with  its  regular,  rhyth- 
mic throbs.  The  building  palpitated  with  it 
as  if  it  were  alive.  It  was  like  the  beating 
heart  of  a  great  full-pulsed  civilization. 

"  They  're  printing  my  work  right  now/' 
cried  Ned  with  all  the  pride  of  an  author. 

Then  a  twinge  of  anxiety  seized  him.  He 
remembered  his  limited  opportunities,  and  he 
had  the  grace  to  hope  that  there  were  not  too 
many  mistakes  in  the  type-setting. 

But  such  a  sight  has  rarely  been  seen  as 
that  presented  by  the  third  column  of  the 
second  page  when  the  reeking  sheets  came 


246  THE  CHAMPION 

from  the  press.  It  was  probably  discovered 
by  the  more  distant  subscribers  receiving  the 
journal  by  mail  before  the  paper,  as  personi- 
fied by  its  employees,  knew  what  had  hap- 
pened to  itself. 

The  town,  the  immediate  vicinity,  also  read 
it  betimes.  And  certainly,  although  the  enor- 
mity was  caught  in  the  second  edition  and 
hastily  replaced  with  an  article  already  in  type 
on  the  tariff,  the  editor-in-chief  was  an  object 
of  pity  the  next  morning,  when  opening  com- 
placently the  folds  of  the  journal,  his  eye 
fell  on  Ned's  handiwork  in  the  midst  of  the 
wit  and  wisdom  of  the  important  editorials. 
There,  instead  of  the  severe  "  reply "  that 
should  prove  he  was  no  merely  malicious 
calumniator  of  innocence  and  integrity,  was 
a  typographical  caricature  of  the  prospectus 
of  the  paper. 

Wildly  leaded,  with  inverted  u's  and  n's 
and  p's  and  d's,  incredibly  "  fat,"  it  drunkenly 
and  disconnectedly  protested  its  devotion  to 
the  best  interests  of  the  public ;  "  the  Peo- 
ple's Paper,"  it  reiterated,  with  every  inad- 


THE  CHAMPION  247 

vertent  caper  the  printer's  art  is  heir  to.  It 
bragged  of  its  facilities,  its  presses,  its  tal- 
ented writers,  its  supplements,  and  with  or- 
thographical vagaries  to  which  the  phonetic 
craze  presents  a  soberly  conventional  aspect  it 
pointed  with  pride  to  its  career  as  a  popular 
educator.  Such  "  spells  "  as  Ned  had  perpe- 
trated !  Lastly,  with  a  crookedness  that  was 
very  like  a  typographic  leer,  it  begged  to  call 
attention  to  its  handsome  appearance. 

Rude  Boreas  was  but  a  piping  reed  to  the 
way  the  staff  roared  with  wrath.  Ned  arrived 
at  the  office  in  the  midst  of  the  storm.  He 
had  a  confused  sense  of  the  general  desola- 
tion ;  then  the  surroundings  were  canceled 
by  the  sight  of  the  foreman's  face,  pale  and 
agitated. 

"  What  ails  the  boss  ?  "  he  demanded  of  a 
junior  compositor. 

"  The  grand  bounce !  "  responded  that 
worthy. 

Ned  winced.  This  was  an  unexpected 
turn  of  affairs.  He  remembered  the  foreman's 
wife,  who  had  fallen  into  a  hopeless  stage  of 


248  THE  CHAMPION 

consumption,  and  their  four  small  and  help- 
less girls. 

"  He  has  been  tight  afore  this,  a-many  a 
time/'  said  Ned  doggedly,  trying  to  justify 
himself  in  his  own  mind  for  not  having  fore- 
seen this  possibility.  Scheme  as  he  might, 
things  went  worse  and  worse.  "  He  has  been 
drunk  time  and  time  again." 

"Never  like  this,"  said  the  young  typo, 
bursting  with  laughter.  "  My  eye  !  When  I 
first  saw  that  column  I  thought  I  had  the  jim- 
jams  myself." 

In  the  investigations  that  were  in  progress 
the  foreman  admitted  that  he  had  been  very 
drunk  the  previous  night.  Therefore  he  was 
at  the  mercy  of  anything  that  circumstantial 
evidence  could  prove  upon  him.  The  fact 
was  elicited  by  reference  to  the  proof  that  the 
article  in  question  had  been  set  up  correctly. 
"  And  then,"  he  confessed,  "  I  came  up  here 
as  drunk  as  a  mink  —  a  mule — after  every- 
thing was  in  the  chase,  to  lock  the  form,  and 
like  a  torn-fool  I  must  have  set  up  this  pro- 
spectus from  the  new  copy,  and  I  don't  know 


THE  CHAMPION  249 

how  I  could  have  knocked  the  type  into  this 
crazy  pi." 

This  seemed  the  only  reasonable  solution 
of  the  mystery,  and  it  was  accepted  without 
demur  or  question.  While  Ned  went  about 
his  ordinary  work  he  listened  anxiously  to  the 
sound  of  the  editor's  voice  as  he  still  bemoaned 
himself  with  his  confreres  in  the  "  rinktum." 
Time  had  softened  his  sorrows  only  a  very 
little.  His  tones  were  still  pervaded  by  rage 
and  grief,  modulated  but  slightly  by  an  ap- 
preciation of  futility.  It  was  like  the  subsid- 
ing anguish  of  a  bull-dog  when  the  burglar  is 
gone! 

Ned  could  but  hope  th'at  the  "  bouncing  " 
of  the  foreman  would  be  reconsidered.  This 
Bob  Platt  was  a  good  fellow,  and  heretofore 
his  weakness  for  strong  drink  had  never  inter- 
fered with  his  capable  performance  of  duty. 
He  had  been  in  the  office  twenty  years  as 
man  and  boy ;  and  now  he  was  to  be  chucked 
out  of  it  for  an  offense  which  he  had  never 
committed. 

"He  oughtn't  ter  have  been  drunk/' 
thought  Ned. 


250  THE  CHAMPION 

And  this  was  very  true  ! 

Bob  Platt  was  a  good  printer,  however ;  gilt- 
edged,  Ned  argued,  taking  courage,  —  and 
could  no  doubt  easily  find  work  elsewhere,  with 
all  his  experience  as  foreman  and  capacity  in 
management.  Then  Ned  reflected  that  this 
story  would  be  likely  to  create  a  ripple  in 
typographic  circles,  and  employers  would  be 
indisposed  to  engage  a  printer  whose  sprees 
expressed  themselves  in  such  fantastic  pub- 
licity. Bob  Platt  might  fail  to  get  work. 
And  there  was  the  sick  wife,  and  there  were 
the  small  girls. 

Ned  once  more  began  the  profitable  and 
pleasant  occupation  of  hoping  against  hope. 
The  staff  would  never  part  with  Bob  Platt. 
Ned  hardly  believed  they  could  run  the  paper 
without  him. 

The  printer's  devil  would  not  realize  the 
mischief  he  had  unintentionally  done  till  he 
saw  Bob  Platt  standing  in  the  door  of  the 
composing-room,  leaving  behind  him  his 
friends,  his  twenty  years  of  industry  and 
capacity,  and  the  trustworthy  reputation  they 


THE  CHAMPION  251 

had  earned  for  him,  all  lost,  as  completely 
canceled  as  the  editor's  copy. 

He  was  trying  to  carry  it  off  jauntily.  His 
hat  was  stuck  on  one  side.  He  chewed  hard 
on  his  quid  of  tobacco.  He  laughed  as  he 
nodded  over  his  shoulder  to  the  group  of 
printers  in  the  composing-room.  "  Be  good 
to  yourselves,  boys  !  So  long !  " 

Ned  saw  the  haggard  change  in  his  face  as 
he  turned.  He  was  going  out  empty-handed, 
with  a  dying  wife  and  four  small  girls,  to 
meet  the  cold,  hard,  tight-fisted,  grinding 
world.  Ned  knew  how  cold,  how  hard,  how 
tight-fisted,  how  grinding  that  world  is ! 

"  Say !  "  he  screamed  suddenly,  throwing 
himself  upon  Bob  Platt,  "  I  done  it !  I  done 
it !  I  done  it,  myself.  If  they  hang  me  for 
it  I  can't  hide  it !  I  burnt  the  copy  an'  dis- 
tributed the  type  of  that  editorial,  an'  fixed 
the  purspectus  in  its  place  "  —  he  remembered 
how  awfully  it  looked —  "  as  well  as  I  could." 
The  champion  concluded  with  a  sob. 

Bob  Platt  stood  for  a  moment  staring,  mo- 
tionless. 


252  THE  CHAMPION 

"  You  Bkck-eyed  Bamboozler  of  Beelze- 
bub ! "  he  exclaimed,  with  an  unconscious 
alliterative  habit  contracted  from  the  corrupt- 
ing influence  of  headlines. 

He  might  have  been  expected  to  fall  on  the 
self-accuser's  neck  for  joy.  He  did  nothing 
of  the  sort.  He  clutched  Ned  by  the  nape  of 
that  structure,  and  the  doughty  devil's  feet 
hardly  touched  the  floor  once  in  the  rapid 
transit  to  the  "  rinktum." 

"  Here 's  this  Imp  of  Iniquity,"  cried  the 
foreman  indignantly,  "  who  says  that  he  dis- 
tributee! the  type  and  canceled  the  copy  and 
set  up  that  prospectus  on  purpose  ! " 

"  What  on  earth  "  —  they  mentioned  a  dif- 
ferent region  —  "  did  you  do  it  for  ?  "  rose 
the  editorial  chorus. 

"  'Cause,"  sobbed  the  champion  censor  of 
the  press,  "  I  did  n't  want  that  copee  ter  be 
printed.  'T  warn't  true !  " 

There  was  a  short  silence. 

The  conclave  of  editors  stood  aghast  at  the 
idea  of  printing  truth  only  ! 

The  managing  editor  was  the  first  to  recover 


THE  CHAMPION  253 

his  faculties.  "You  are  the  boy  who  was 
arrested  about  this  affair  of  Gorham's  Theatre, 
I  believe  ?"  he  said. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  sobbed  Ned,  "  An'  Mr.  Gorham 
never  had  no  more  to  do  with  burnin'  that 
theaytre  than  I  had.  'T  was  ter  spite  him  it 
was  burned." 

"  Then  you  know  who  did  burn  it  ?  " 

The  managing  editor  had  fairly  cornered 
Ned,  but  the  obstinate  boy  refused  to  reply. 
For  a  time  threats  and  persuasions  were  alike 
useless.  Only  by  strongly  representing  to 
him  that  Gorham  would  be  ruined  unless  the 
matter  were  cleared  up  was  the  truth  sifted 
out  little  by  little. 

Mr.  Gorham  was  finally  summoned,  and  a 
full  explanation  ensued.  He  fairly  foamed  at 
the  mouth  with  rage  when  with  much  diffi- 
culty he  was  at  last  made  to  understand  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  suspicions  harbored 
against  him.  He  promptly  identified  the  sev- 
eral malefactors  from  Ned's  description  of 
them,  called  in  the  police,  and  gave  such  de- 
tails of  their  associates,  habits,  and  habitat 


254  THE  CHAMPION 

that  before  nightfall  one  of  them,  the  bandy- 
legged scamp,  who  had  once  been  employed 
about  the  theatre  as  a  supernumerary  actor, 
was  arrested  and  safely  lodged  in  jail.  He 
"  squealed "  very  promptly  and  earnestly  in 
the  hope  of  being  allowed  the  benefit  of 
"  State's  evidence/'  and  by  his  means  the  star's 
diamonds  were  traced  through  a  variety  of 
"  fences  "  and  recovered ;  his  accomplice  in 
this  theft  was  also  apprehended  by  the  trail 
of  the  stolen  costumes,  and  somewhat  later 
the  "  first  player  "  was  captured  and  cast  for 
a  role  with  a  long  run  behind  the  bars.  Ned 
was  much  relieved  when  it  was  now  made 
known  that  the  company  had  lost  nothing  by 
the  forcing  of  the  safe  in  the  theatre,  for 
contrary  to  the  usual  habit  the  receipts  were 
not  left  on  that  occasion  in  the  office  of  the 
building  and  the  criminals  had  gained  prac- 
tically nothing  in  bursting  the  lock. 

Ned  was  amazed  to  see  how  the  truth  does 
prevail,  how  readily  and  implicitly  his  story 
was  believed  when  it  was  given  from  the 
witness  stand,  and  how  promptly  he  was 


THE  CHAMPION  255 

acquitted.  Gorham  took  advantage  of  every 
technicality  and  prosecuted  the  villains  to  the 
extremest  limit  of  the  law.  They  deserved 
all  that  they  got,  which  was  indeed  good 
measure,  but  in  his  observation  of  Gorham  in 
these  days  Ned  became  more  and  more  aware 
that  impulse  is  a  poor  substitute  for  principle 
as  a  basis  of  action,  and  that  although  im- 
pulse may  serve  as  an  excuse  for  much  that  is 
fierce  or  weak,  it  detracts  from  the  merit  of 
what  is  good.  Gorham's  kindly  whim  which 
restored  him  to  liberty  was  no  whit  more  kindly 
than  the  severe  editor's  lecture  bidding  him 
observe  what  great  evils  may  grow  from  a 
cowardly  concealment  of  the  truth. 

"  It  would  have  ruined  us  all  but  for  the 
gilt-edged  way  the  champion  set  that  type," 
the  managing  editor  presently  observed  aside, 
with  a  laugh,  to  his  colleague.  And  with  the 
recollection  the  editor-in-chief,  whose  copy 
was  canceled  by  the  devil,  was  at  last  able  to 
laugh  too. 

For  those  strong  and  false  accusations  of 
Gorham,  which  would  have  laid  the  paper 


256  THE  CHAMPION 

liable  for  libel,  were  never  published,  and  the 
insurance  companies  made  good  the  loss  by 
the  fire  in  great  haste  and  with  many  plausible 
and  polite  excuses  for  the  previous  delay. 

Peter  Bateman's  perjury  was  committed  in 
so  important  a  case  that  it  did  not  escape 
notice.  On  the  trial  he  broke  down  and 
confessed,  hoping  to  elude  punishment  on 
the  strength  of  his  penitence.  In  fact  he  was 
so  limp,  so  tearful,  so  flabby,  so  fat,  that  he 
produced  a  youthful,  irresponsible  impres- 
sion, and  narrowly  missing  the  State  Prison, 
he  was  sent  to  the  Kef orm  School,  where  it  is 
to  be  hoped  he  is  learning  that  there  is  some 
policy  as  well  as  piety  in  keeping  the  ninth 
commandment. 

Ned  continues  to  work  in  the  composing- 
room  bossed  by  Bob  Platt.  For  on  the  mem- 
orable day  when  the  champion's  exploit  of 
type-setting  was  explained,  the  whole  editorial 
corps  turned  to  and  besought  the  discharged 
foreman,  unjustly  accused  and  maltreated,  to 
remain,  and  after  much  insistence  he  grace- 
fully yielded. 


THE  CHAMPION  257 

But  Bob  Platt  learned  a  lesson  too,  and 
has  joined  the  Sons  of  Temperance. 

Often  now  when  the  evening  is  lingering 
long  on  the  spires  and  domes  and  mansard 
roofs,  and  the  moon  rises  up  from  among 
them  somewhere,  as  if  she  were  a  resident  of 
the  town  rarely  straying  beyond  the  corpo- 
rate limits,  and  the  mocking-bird  mounts  his 
perch  in  the  barber-shop  below  and  sings  his 
roundelay,  —  poor  captive  troubadour !  —  and 
the  stars  muster  one  by  one,  and  the  compos- 
ing-room is  dusky  save  for  a  dim  gas  jet  here 
and  there,  and  is  filled  with  mellow  shadows 
and  mellow  memories  too,  the  foreman  and 
the  devil  are  wont  to  lean  on  the  window-sill 
and  look  out  and  enjoy  the  interval  of  rest, 
and  the  touch  of  the  breeze,  and  the  faint, 
fading,  roseate  flush  in  the  west,  and  laugh  as 
they  talk  over  again  in  much  amity  this  ex- 
ploit of  the  champion's  type-setting. 


press* 

Electrotyped  and printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &•  Co. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.S.  A. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate 


9May'57PW 

— — 


APK  ^5  IBb? 


LD  21-100m-6,'56 
(B9311slO)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


M501467 


C.h 


